

Since the inception of Prime Air, we have designed, built, and tested many drones. As our drone descends to deliver the package into a customer’s backyard, the drone ensures that there’s a small area around the delivery location that’s clear of any people, animals, or other obstacles. If obstacles are identified, our drone will automatically change course to safely avoid them. It can also detect moving objects on the horizon, like other aircraft, even when it’s hard for people to see them. Using this system, our drone can identify a static object in its path, like a chimney. Our algorithms use a diverse suite of technologies for object detection.

When flying to the delivery location, the drones need to be able to identify static and moving obstacles. We designed our sense-and-avoid system for two main scenarios: to be safe when in transit, and to be safe when approaching the ground.

We’ve created a sophisticated and industry-leading sense-and-avoid system that will enable operations without visual observers and allow our drone to operate at greater distances while safely and reliably avoiding other aircraft, people, pets, and obstacles. That type of drone can be deployed relatively quickly, but it limits delivery operations to a small radius. Those systems will require visual observers along the route of every flight to help the drones avoid hazards. For example, most drones do not have the capability to sense and avoid other aircraft and obstacles-and it’s easy to understand why that could pose problems. The logistics industry is abuzz with all-things drones. We are working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and local officials in Lockeford to obtain permission to conduct these deliveries and will continue with that collaboration into the future. “It’s exciting that Amazon will be listening to the feedback of the San Joaquin County community to inform the future development of this technology.” “Lockeford residents will soon have access to one of the world’s leading delivery innovations,” said California State Assemblyman Heath Flora, whose district includes Lockeford.
#Amazon drone delivery area software#
Meet Heidi Schubert, who creates drone traffic management software for Prime Air.Īs we launch the service in Lockeford, we’ll also be investing in the community, creating new jobs, building partnerships with local organizations, and helping reduce carbon emissions-all thanks to this futuristic technology that could one day become just as common as seeing an Amazon delivery van pull up outside your house. Their feedback about Prime Air, with drones delivering packages in their backyards, will help us create a service that will safely scale to meet the needs of customers everywhere-while adding another innovation milestone to the town’s aviation history. Lockeford residents will play an important role in defining the future.
#Amazon drone delivery area for free#
Now, over a century later, residents will get the opportunity to sign up for free drone delivery on thousands of everyday items. Cooke, who built and flew early planes in the early 1900s-as a former resident. The community boasts one of the early pioneers of aviation-Weldon B. Lockeford has historic links to the aviation industry. Our teams of hundreds of scientists, engineers, aerospace professionals, and futurists have been working hard to do just that-and later this year, Amazon customers living in Lockeford, California, will become among the first to receive Prime Air deliveries. The challenge: How do you get items to customers quickly, cost-effectively, and-most importantly-safely, in less than an hour? And how do you do it in a way that can scale? It’s relatively easy to use existing technology to fly a light payload a short distance that’s within your line of sight, but it’s a very different challenge to build a network that can deliver to customers across large communities. We’ve been working for almost a decade to make it a reality. The promise of drone delivery has often felt like science fiction. Amazon customers in Lockeford, California, will be among the first to receive Prime Air drone deliveries in the U.S.
