Amazon reveals new Prime Air delivery drone

Amazon has been promising fast drone deliveries for years, and this year was no exception at the company’s annual AI conference.

The e-commerce giant announced the latest iteration of its Prime Air delivery drone at its conference Amazon re:MARS in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The design unveiling comes as Amazon begins one-day shipping for Prime members.

Drone delivery could theoretically make for even faster shipping times, and be available for a very small subset of Prime members in just a matter of months.

Amazon’s consumer division CEO Jeff Wilke spoke Wednesday about the electric autonomous drone, which can fly up to 15 miles while carrying 5-pound packages (or lighter) in under 30 minutes. It takes off and lands like a helicopter vertically, then flies more like an airplane once airborne. The drone only flies to low-altitude heights, about 400 feet.

In a blog post, he said the drones would head from spots within Amazon’s fulfillment and delivery network to customer homes within months. Be extra wary on that timeline; Amazon’s drone plans have been pushed back before.

As seen in past years with a pilot delivery program in the UK and a test flight in Palm Springs, California, Amazon showed the drone take flight and land in a cleared out area. Once again the video is labeled as “actual autonomous flight footage. Not simulated.” 

It’s not clear where Amazon will be able to use the drones for expedited deliveries, especially in strictly regulated U.S. airspace, but the craft on stage is supposed to be safer and more stable than previous iterations.

Through sensors and machine learning, the device can detect static and moving objects and course-correct if something such as a clothes line or telephone wire is in its way.

With drone delivery seemingly months away in some parts of the world, where do we go from here? Instantaneous delivery? Only time will tell.