Amazon Begins Testing Drone Deliveries in California, Texas

Amazon is now trialing drone deliveries in new California and Texas locations.

David Carbon, VP of Prime Air Amazon, announced the "careful first steps" in a Christmas Eve LinkedIn post. "First deliveries from our new sites in TX and CA," he wrote.

Carbon posted a photo of an airborne drone carrying an Amazon box at the end of a nearly invisible tether. No further details were revealed.

Nearly a decade in the making, Amazon's air drone delivery service is finally set to reach US customers. Once onboarded, local shoppers can place orders for Prime Air-eligible items as normal, then wait for the unmanned aerial vehicle to drop them off—literally.

The self-flying drones are capable of evading objects like chimneys and other aircraft while flying up to 50mph and carrying packages that weigh as much as 5 pounds. Amazon's drones ferry each shipment to the customer's backyard, where they hover at a safe distance before releasing the package on the ground.

The company previously teased upcoming air drone delivery service in Lockeford, California—a town of 3,500 people—and College Station, Texas—home to 115,000 residents and the Texas A&M University.

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"These are careful first steps that we will turn into giant leaps for our customers over the next number of years," Carbon said. "Customers are our obsession, safety is our imperative, the future of delivery is our mandate, technology is unlocking that future, and our people are the foundation that it all sits on."

Amazon recently offered a sneak peek at its fresh MK30 design, which improves on the existing MK27-2, but won't be deployed until 2024.

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B.A. in Journalism & Public Relations with minor in Communications Media from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)

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