Amazon drone biz facing rough weather, Wired reports
Prime Air, a future delivery system from Amazon, US-based online retail behemoth, designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using autonomous aerial vehicles or drones.
August 07, 2021: Prime Air, a future delivery system from Amazon, US-based online retail behemoth, designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using autonomous aerial vehicles or drones, is on the verge of shuttering it's UK drone delivery operations following massive layoffs and transfers, Wired reported.
Amazon is yet to confirm or deny the developments even as well over 100 employees at Prime Air have lost their jobs and dozens of other roles are moving to other projects abroad, Wired reported.
We have contacted Amazon Prime Air and yet to hear from their team. The story will be updated as and when we hear from them.
Amazon got the US FAA approval last year to operate its fleet of Prime Air delivery drones.
Amazon tested the delivery model. Here's the video:
If curious to know how Amazon manages to keep moving in clockwise precision, read here.
Amazon now joins Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet and UPS, to be granted Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) clearance to operate its fleet of drones for package deliveries.
They, however, have to clear other regulatory approvals before starting operations.
While Wing has been doing testing with Walgreens and FedEx, UPS is testing services in a hospital.
Air delivery is being seen as a big opportunity by ecomm giants as well as Big Tech.
Multiple uses of drones
The second concept of drone-based delivery is one fitted on trucks: a delivery truck fitted with a drone drives to the city, delivery personnel loads orders to be fulfilled on drones, moves on to the next stop and by that time, the drone is either there or delivery personnel is back to dock the drone.
In fact, UPS tested this concept with an actual delivery.
Here's a YouTube link for the test:
Workhorse's battery-operated package delivery drone HorseFly has not been able to take it ahead commercially due to technical worries and other complaints.
Hybrid electric delivery trucks with drones are likely to reduce delivery costs by over 30 percent, according to estimates.
The global drone package delivery market is projected to grow from $528 million in 2020 to $39,013 million by 2030, at a CAGR of 53.8 percent from 2020 to 2030, as per Markets and Markets report.
Now comes the news Amazon may be pulling out of the business. Interesting, right?
