Amazon released a video on November 29 featuring a new prototype for its Amazon Prime Air drone delivery service. The service, which was first announced by CEO Jeff Bezos back in 2013 and has encountered multiple obstacles, aims to use delivery drones to fulfill orders in “30 minutes or less.”
In the newly released video, Jeremy Clarkson, former host of the BBC hit TV show “Top Gear,” shares that there will be different drone designs for different environments. The featured prototype is a 55 pound flat-looking delivery drone aircraft that takes off and lands vertically, but flies on a horizontal path to its targeted destination.
According to the video, this Amazon drone flies up to 400 feet in altitude, can travel a maximum distance of 15 miles and carry packages up to five pounds. The drone also uses “sense-and-avoid technology” to evade obstacles in the air and when landing at its destination.
Although the delivery drones weren’t ready in time for this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday orders, Amazon says online shoppers can expect the service to be up and running in the “not-too-distant future.”
The fate of Amazon — and the rest of the delivery industry’s — drones hinges on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) upcoming rulings on commercial drones. The FAA plans to finalize comprehensive drone legislation by June 2016.
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(Source of Feature Image: Amazon)