There was a moment a few years ago where it seemed like drone deliveries might actually take off. The rollout and practical applications of such services has been sluggish.
Will Amazon’s new rollout be the spark in the drone delivery wave? Starting later this year Amazon will be dropping packages from 12 feet in the air right to doorsteps. They are starting small with only two cities: College Station, TX and Lockeford, CA.
More from CNBC:
The drone is about five-and-a-half feet in diameter and weighs 80 pounds, according to Hendrickson. It can only carry packages weighing less than five pounds, and deliveries must fit in one box about the size of a shoe box.
The drone can fly 12 kilometers roundtrip, and is fully autonomous. The drone needs ample clear space beneath it to drop the box.
Amazon says thousands of items are eligible for drone delivery, a small percentage of the vast assortment available on its marketplace.
Welcome to drone day on the Adafruit blog. Every Monday we deliver the latest news, products and more from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), quadcopter and drone communities. Drones can be used for video & photography (dronies), civil applications, policing, farming, firefighting, military and non-military security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. Previous posts can be found via the #drone tag and our drone / UAV categories.