Amazon previews next-gen Prime Air delivery drone
Amazon’s new delivery drone will have a number of features designed to increase its usability and safety – starting in 2024.
The e-tail giant has built fully electric drones that can deliver packages under five pounds to customers in less than an hour, from click to delivery, known as the MK27-2. Those drones are scheduled to begin making deliveries later in 2022.
Amazon is now introducing its next-generation delivery drone, the MK30. Due to come into service in 2024, this drone will be lighter and smaller than the MK27-2. New features will include increased range of travel, expanded temperature tolerance, and the capability to fly in light rain.
In addition, Amazon has developed a proprietary, artificial intelligence (AI)-based sense-and-avoid system that will allow the MK30 drones to operate at greater distances while safely and accurately avoiding other aircraft, people, animals, and obstacles. Amazon has also created new custom-designed propellers that will reduce the MK30’s perceived noise by 25%.
“We know our customers will only feel comfortable receiving drone deliveries if they know the system is safe and reliable,” Amazon said in a corporate blog post. “Our drones can encounter new, unexpected situations and still make safe decisions—autonomously and safely. We are excited about the next chapter in the Prime Air program and expanding this service to more customers in the months and years to come.”
Amazon drone delivery prepares for takeoff
Amazon drone delivery is launching in at least two locations in 2022. The e-tail giant will offer customers in College Station, Texas – home of Texas A&M University – the opportunity to receive Prime Air drone deliveries. Drone deliveries will be fulfilled in less than one hour from the time a digital order is placed.
The company also recently announced that customers in Lockeford, Calif., will be among the first to receive Prime Air drone deliveries in the U.S. Amazon will fulfill drone deliveries in less than one hour from the time an order is placed. For these deliveries, the drone will fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customer’s backyard, and hover at a safe height. It will then safely release the package and rise back up to altitude.
The company says it has created more than two dozen Prime Air delivery drone prototypes, including a model publicly unveiled at its 2019 re:MARS conference (Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics and Space) in Las Vegas. The company’s first test drone delivery in the U.S. took place at its March 2017 re:MARS conference, preceded by its first U.K. delivery by drone in December near Cambridge, England in December 2016.
As is normally the case, Amazon’s newest drone will go through evaluation by national aerospace authorities like the Federal Aviation Administration to prove its safety and reliability. Amazon previously received a Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2020. This means the FAA has authorized the company to operate as an airline and deliver small packages via drone.