Amazon unveils plan to deliver packages by drone in UK and Italy
- 6 months ago
#englishnews #Amazondeliverybydrone
News Article :-
Amazon has announced plans to start delivering packages via drone for the first time in the UK and Italy as it attempts to get its ambitious airborne delivery program off the ground.
The American technology giant said on Wednesday that it will introduce autonomous aircraft delivery in Britain and Italy “in late 2024”, a decade after first publicly setting its sights on the skies. It hopes to be delivering 500m packages via drone each year by the end of the decade.
The announcement came as Amazon unveiled its new generation of drones at its headquarters in Seattle. David Carbon, Amazon’s vice-president for Prime Air, said: “We are excited to announce the expansion of Prime Air delivery internationally, for the first time outside the US.
“We have built a safe, reliable delivery service and have partnered very closely with regulators and communities.”
The company’s drone-based service is currently only available within two small sites in California and Texas, where it launched less than a year ago. Amazon intends to add a third American location next year.
Amazon first outlined plans to use drones for delivery in 2013, stoking expectations of a new era of even faster package delivery. “It will work, and it will happen, and it’s going to be a lot of fun,” founder Jeff Bezos told 60 Minutes on CBS at the time.
But progress has been slow. The company launched its Prime Air service – in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas – late last year, and CNBC reported in May that its drones had conducted just 100 deliveries. It had previously set an internal target of 10,000 this year.
Activity has since ramped up, according to Amazon. Amazon drones have delivered “thousands” of packages, said Carbon. “And we have thousands of customers.”
The company did conduct a small-scale drone delivery test in the UK in 2016.
While delivering to customers via drone outside the US will amount to a significant breakthrough, Amazon’s announcement was light on specifics. The company pledged to “start with one site” in the UK and Italy and “expand over time”, but executives declined to comment on where in each country they would launch first.
Under a “mapped-out plan”, Carbon told reporters during a briefing that the tech giant would ultimately dispatch drones from a string of locations across the US, UK and Italy. “We will open more facilities over time,” he said. “This is not a market test. Our customers, and frankly our communities, need this type of sustainable service.”
The service will “start slow”, Carbon added. “We’re really starting the commercial service. The testing’s been done. We know the drone has been proven.”
In comments provided by Amazon, Baroness Vere, the UK transport minister, said: “Amazon’s announcement today is a fantastic example of government and industry coming together to achieve our shared vision for comm
News Article :-
Amazon has announced plans to start delivering packages via drone for the first time in the UK and Italy as it attempts to get its ambitious airborne delivery program off the ground.
The American technology giant said on Wednesday that it will introduce autonomous aircraft delivery in Britain and Italy “in late 2024”, a decade after first publicly setting its sights on the skies. It hopes to be delivering 500m packages via drone each year by the end of the decade.
The announcement came as Amazon unveiled its new generation of drones at its headquarters in Seattle. David Carbon, Amazon’s vice-president for Prime Air, said: “We are excited to announce the expansion of Prime Air delivery internationally, for the first time outside the US.
“We have built a safe, reliable delivery service and have partnered very closely with regulators and communities.”
The company’s drone-based service is currently only available within two small sites in California and Texas, where it launched less than a year ago. Amazon intends to add a third American location next year.
Amazon first outlined plans to use drones for delivery in 2013, stoking expectations of a new era of even faster package delivery. “It will work, and it will happen, and it’s going to be a lot of fun,” founder Jeff Bezos told 60 Minutes on CBS at the time.
But progress has been slow. The company launched its Prime Air service – in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas – late last year, and CNBC reported in May that its drones had conducted just 100 deliveries. It had previously set an internal target of 10,000 this year.
Activity has since ramped up, according to Amazon. Amazon drones have delivered “thousands” of packages, said Carbon. “And we have thousands of customers.”
The company did conduct a small-scale drone delivery test in the UK in 2016.
While delivering to customers via drone outside the US will amount to a significant breakthrough, Amazon’s announcement was light on specifics. The company pledged to “start with one site” in the UK and Italy and “expand over time”, but executives declined to comment on where in each country they would launch first.
Under a “mapped-out plan”, Carbon told reporters during a briefing that the tech giant would ultimately dispatch drones from a string of locations across the US, UK and Italy. “We will open more facilities over time,” he said. “This is not a market test. Our customers, and frankly our communities, need this type of sustainable service.”
The service will “start slow”, Carbon added. “We’re really starting the commercial service. The testing’s been done. We know the drone has been proven.”
In comments provided by Amazon, Baroness Vere, the UK transport minister, said: “Amazon’s announcement today is a fantastic example of government and industry coming together to achieve our shared vision for comm