Amazon shuts down California drone delivery program, sets sights on new markets

According to news from this site on April 23, technology giant Amazon announced the closure of its Prime Air drone delivery project in Rockford, California. This project allows local residents to order goods under 5 pounds (note on this site: approximately 2.27 kilograms) and have them delivered to their doorsteps within 30 minutes via drone. Amazon said it shut down the Prime Air project because there are still certain challenges in achieving the commercial viability of drone delivery under the current technological and regulatory environment. The company said it will continue to invest in and develop new delivery technologies to provide faster and more efficient logistics services. Despite the closure of the Prime Air project, Amazon will continue to explore the application of drone technology in its logistics field. Amazon Thinks No One

# Amazon plans to launch a new Prime Air program in Tolleson, Arizona. The new project is expected to provide "same-day" delivery service to residents of the West Valley metro area of ​​Phoenix. Amazon plans to begin operating the project in Arizona later this year.

According to Amazon, which did not clearly explain the reason for closing the project in Rockford, which is scheduled to open in 2022. But Amazon said workers on the Rockford project will be offered "job opportunities at other sites."

Amazon said it will continue its Prime Air program in College Station, Texas, with plans to open a new site in 2025. At the same time, the press release also mentioned that the company’s latest MK30 drone is still under testing. This drone is lighter and can fly in light rain.

According to data reports, Amazon’s research and development progress has been hindered because certain models of drones previously used have crashed during testing. The MK30 drone will debut in November 2022 and is scheduled to enter operation this year.

Compared with competitors, Amazon’s drone delivery service was originally in a leading position, but it has fallen behind significantly in recent years. In 2013, then-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that drone delivery services would be available within four to five years. However, a number of technical and regulatory challenges have emerged over the past few years that have forced Amazon to delay the implementation of drone delivery. These include drone flight safety issues, privacy considerations and the control of drones by various governments. Although Amazon is still conducting research, development and trials of drone delivery services

As of the end of 2023, Amazon had planned to complete 10,000 drone deliveries by the end of 2023. , only 100 deliveries were completed. Meanwhile, Amazon rival Zipline has completed more than 1 million drone deliveries as of April 19.

The above is the detailed content of Amazon shuts down California drone delivery program, sets sights on new markets. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!