Amazon announced that it will begin delivering packages by drone in the UK and Italy for the first-time as part of its ambitious airborne program.
The American tech giant announced on Wednesday it would introduce autonomous aircraft deliveries in Britain and Italy ‘late 2024’, a decade after publicly committing to the skies. By the end of this decade, it hopes to deliver 500 million packages per year via drone.
Amazon announced the news as it unveiled its latest generation of drones in its Seattle headquarters. David Carbon, Amazon Vice-President of Prime Air, stated: “We’re excited to announce Prime Air Delivery internationally for the first time.
We have built a reliable, safe delivery service. We have worked closely with regulators and local communities.
Amazon’s drone service is only available in two small locations, located in California and Texas. The sites were launched less than one year ago. Amazon plans to open a third American site next year.
Amazon announced its plans to use drones in 2013 and sparked expectations for a faster delivery of packages. It will work and it will be fun,” said Jeff Bezos , founder of Amazon, on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
Progress has been slow. CNBC reported that in May, the company’s drones had only made 100 deliveries. It had set an internal goal of 10,000 deliveries this year.
Amazon reports that activity has increased since then. Carbon said that Amazon drones had delivered “thousands of packages.” “And we have hundreds of thousands of customers.”
In 2016, the company conducted a small-scale drone delivery testing in the UK.
Amazon’s announcement lacked specifics, even though drone delivery outside of the US is a major breakthrough. Amazon pledged that it would “start with one location” in Italy and the UK, and then “expand in time”. However, executives refused to say where they planned to launch in each country first.
Carbon, during a press briefing, told reporters that the “mapped-out” plan would eventually see the tech giant dispatch drones across the US and UK. He said that “we will open more facilities in the future”. This is not a test of the market. This type of service is needed by our customers and, frankly, also by the communities.
Carbon said that the service would “start slowly”. Carbon added, “We are starting a commercial service.” Testing has been completed. “We know that the drone is proven.”
In comments provided by Amazon the UK Transport Minister, Baroness Vere said: “Amazon’s announcement today is an excellent example of government working with industry to achieve our common vision that commercial drones will be ubiquitous in the UK by the year 2030.”
Amazon is not the only company trying to figure out drone delivery. Walmart, the US retailing giant, and Alphabet (owner of Google) are also key players on the drone delivery market. Operators have had to struggle with strict regulatory requirements.
The Civil Aviation Authority in the UK sees Amazon’s first launch of drones as a chance to learn about how drones could safely operate within the airspace of the country. In a “best-case scenario” adopted by the government in its policy document , published last summer, more than 900,000. drones could be operating over Britain. Amazon opened the doors of its drone factory on the outskirts of Seattle to the media for the first time on Tuesday, and showed off a new model – the MK30 – which it plans to bring into service in time for 2024’s launches in the UK and Italy.
The MK30 doesn’t require a special marker to deliver goods. Unlike other drones in Lockeford or College Station that need a delivery pad to be used with a QR-code, the MK30 can drop off products without a specific marker. Amazon says that the aircraft can fly in heavy winds, light rain and even at night, unlike previous models.
As in the US, Amazon will initially be required to use observers, and will ensure that its drones don’t travel beyond their line-of-sight. However, it hopes that this will soon change. Av Zammit said that Amazon’s spokesperson, Av Zammit: “Our goal is to ensure that by the time that we operate [in countries such as the UK], that there is a framework that essentially makes sure that we can get beyond visual line-of-sight very quickly.”
The company wants to address safety concerns raised by regulators and consumers. Carbon said that delivering an item by MK30 drone is “hundreds times safer” than buying it in a store.