Amazon: with Prime Air we will deliver 500 million packages via drone by the end of the decade

Amazon’s ambitious goal: 500 million packages delivered by drones by the end of the decade. The technicians of the US giant have been working on the subject for years and during the Boston ‘Delivering the Future’ event they showcased some important news on the subject of Prime Air deliveries by air.

The development of drones continues: MK30 is born

Amazon is currently launching the first trials in California and Texas, in the locations of Lockeford and College Station, for deliveries by drones, using the current MK27 model. It is a hexacopter with a payload of about 2.5 kilograms (5 pounds) that can fly to the customer’s home within a 3/5 mile radiusand unload a single package, dropping it from 3/4 meters.

In this way there is no interaction between the drone and those on the ground and Amazon is doing a lot of research on the packages themselves and on the products that can withstand the ‘launch’ without suffering any damage. The MK27 fully electric drone and uses a replaceable battery pack to be able to carry out missions in sequence with a minimum stop time.

Amazon has to show the renders of what the new model will be, MK30a drone always based on a six rotor designbut that – for equal loads – will be the 10% lighter and that it will be able to soar even in conditions of light rain and with a wider range of operating temperatures, thus expanding the type of missions that can be performed. In addition, the technicians worked on the avionics to make the drone 25% less noisy in terms of perceived noise.

For Amazon, super-fast deliveries in less than an hour via drone will become one of the many ‘Prime’ options in the testing phase without requiring additional costs for customers subscribed to the service.

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Of course, for an automated delivery system with self-driving drones, the challenge is not just in the aircraft, but it is necessary to create a regulatory framework in which to operate and which are also born ground infrastructure, like airports for air travel. Amazon is therefore working on all fronts to reach in a few years an air delivery system capable of breaking through the ceiling of 500 million packages delivered by 2030.