Amazon’s drones will deliver lightweight packages to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of this year, a major expansion of its Prime Air network that zips items through the air to drop them in backyards and driveways in as little as 30 minutes after ordering.
It’s a milestone nearly 13 years in the making. Jeff Bezos unveiled Prime Air on 60 Minutes in December 2013, showing off a prototype to an astonished Charlie Rose and a skeptical public.
“I know this looks like science fiction — it’s not,” the Amazon founder said at the time.
Bezos said at the time it would take at least four or five years, optimistically, and that convincing the FAA the drones were safe would be one of the biggest hurdles. Amazon’s FAQ that night said it hoped the agency would have rules in place “as early as sometime in 2015.”
Both the technology and the regulations took far longer than the company expected.
The Associated Press first reported about Amazon’s expansion plans Tuesday afternoon. Amazon has not publicly announced the plan as of this evening.
Nearly any item weighing 5 pounds or less and small enough to fit in a large shoebox is eligible for drone delivery. That translates into millions of products, as noted by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in his annual letter to shareholders earlier this year. He wrote that Prime Air would carry “a much larger selection of items inside a half hour” than Amazon’s other fast-delivery options.
According to the AP report, Amazon drone delivery will expand by the end of the year to the Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boise metro areas, among other regions, with flights concentrated in suburban areas and steering clear of downtown high-rises and major airports.
The reference to expanding to 500 cities and towns in the AP report does not reflect the number of planned Amazon drone hubs, but rather the number of municipalities that fall within delivery range of the planned hubs, each of which covers roughly 175 square miles.
Drone delivery will be free for Prime members on orders of $50 or more. Prime orders below that carry a $2.99 fee, and customers without a membership pay $4.99.
Amazon isn’t the only company betting on drones. Walmart and Alphabet’s Wing have been building what they call the largest drone delivery network in the U.S., adding seven new markets in June including Phoenix, Philadelphia and the Bay Area. They plan to reach 270 stores and more than 40 million people by next year.
Local approvals remain a hurdle. Noise has been a recurring concern for residents near drone operations. Amazon says its drones are quieter than an idling delivery truck during drop-off and comparable to a window fan while in flight. A proposed federal rule that would more broadly allow flights beyond the pilot’s line of sight has not been finalized.
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