Households across the UK are set to start receiving their Amazon packages by drone.
Amazon is set to expand its Prime Air service following a successful trial that took place in May.
During the trial, deliveries that weighed up to 2.2kg were able to be delivered to around 600 households in a 7.5-mile radius of its warehouse in Darlington.
Now Amazon is going to extend its service to 8,000 households thanks to securing approval from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Amazon set to extend its drone delivery service
Customers can order small items such as household essentials and tech supplies that can be delivered in under two hours without them having to pay extra.
Small deliveries can be carried by Amazon’s MK30 drone and will be dropped around 12 feet into customers’ gardens.
The CAA has reviewed the safety features on the Amazon drones that use machine learning to navigate airspace in the area.
The drones’ system is able to detect any objects that might be in the customer’s garden like trampolines.
Sophie O’Sullivan, at the CAA, said: “This first in-kind announcement marks another important step towards safely integrating new technologies into UK airspace, supporting growth, and helping to ensure the UK remains a world leader in aerospace innovation.
“It also reflects the wider progress being made as the aviation sector evolves and new technologies become part of everyday operations.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, had originally wanted to use drone deliveries in the UK 13 years ago.
A few drone deliveries were made in rural areas around Cambridge in 2016 but the service was never fully developed.
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Drone deliveries have been used in select cities in the US since 2022 with delivery times being as little as 36 minutes.
Theunis Scheepers, the director of Prime Air Europe, said: “For customers in Darlington it means getting what they need quickly, safely, and reliably, and it is the foundation for bringing Prime Air to more of the UK.”
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