The Californian town of Lockeford has been chosen by Amazon to start operating at the end of 2022 Prime Air, its parcel delivery service using drones.
The drones will inform Prime Air’s customer at all times of the progress of the flight and the estimated time of arrival at the destination
With a population of 3,500, Lockeford is an ideal setting to become the first location to implement this type of aerial delivery, which will enable users of the trailer service to receive flying deliveries of thousands of products.
Amazon’s drones can transport packages weighing up to 2.2 kilograms at speeds of 75 km/h. The company reports that they have worked especially hard to make these drones capable of handling two main scenarios: prioritizing safety during transit and during their approach to the delivery point.
During flight the drones, equipped with six rotors, are able to identify both static and moving objects. To do so, it uses various object detection algorithms and technologies. Once detected, the drones are able to assess the nature of the obstacle, whether it will remain in the same place where it has detected it or whether it will be able to avoid it during its path.
When the drone has reached its destination it lands in an open, clear space where it deposits the package attached to its underside. The user is informed at all times of the estimated time until the arrival of the shipment through regular updates in the app.
Until reaching this point, where everything indicates that the commercial career of Amazon’s delivery drones would finally begin, the company has gone through different phases with pilot experiences and with dozens of prototypes until reaching the final model. In fact as early as 2016, they started tests in the United Kingdom which did not end up providing satisfactory results, among other issues due to problems related to interaction with birds.
This and other problems that drones can cause seem to have been solved thanks to the use of artificial intelligence
