Amazon Prime has taken to the skies.
In an impressive first for the online retail giant, a drone has officially made an air delivery as part of a journey that took just 13 minutes. So while you may currently be impressed with two-day or even same-day delivery, maybe one day soon, you’ll sniff at anything other than half-hour delivery.
On Wednesday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took to Twitter to announce the milestone, one that has long been in the works. Bezos first began toying with the idea of using drones to quickly deliver packages in 2013. Ever since, the Seattle-based company has been collaborating with regulators to test the service, and perhaps one day soon, the aircraft could replace traditional delivery methods like trucks altogether.
First-ever #AmazonPrimeAir customer delivery is in the books. 13 min—click to delivery. Check out the video: https://t.co/Xl8HiQMA1S pic.twitter.com/5HGsmHvPlE
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) December 14, 2016
Guided by GPS and flying at no higher than 400 feet, Amazon claims that its automated air delivery system will never take more than 30 minutes to complete a trip. So if you’re all about procrastination and last-minute orders, fret not — Amazon (theoretically) has you covered.
The drone’s maiden voyage actually took place on December 7 in Cambridge, England, and while Amazon notes that only a few customers in the U.K. are currently privy to the service, it’s hoping to soon open up the program to a much larger demographic. For the time being, Amazon is still being very careful about when and where its drones fly. For example, any sort of inclement weather will ground the drones (no flying when there’s rain, snow, or ice around), and the unmanned aircraft must fly in a separate airspace to avoid planes.
“One day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road,” Amazon says. So get excited friends — instant gratification could really be just a few years away.
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