Amazon looks ready to start delivering items by drone. The company recently demonstrated another prototype of its delivery system, where it delivered a small number of packages in Lockford and College Station using its Amazon Prime Air drone service. Earlier, it completed its first successful drone delivery in Cambridge.

The e-commerce giant officially received the green light from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) two years ago to begin its drone delivery trials and has been granted “air carrier” status by the authorities as well.

Amazon’s Prime Air drone service will work similarly to regular Amazon deliveries, where after placing an order for Prime Air-eligible items, customers will be able to receive tracking information and an estimated delivery time for their orders.

The drone will fly to the designated delivery address, land in the customer’s backyard and deliver the package, thus also providing the convenience of contactless delivery with limited human intervention. The service will gradually expand to more customers in the future.

Operations from both the College Station Prime Air Drone Delivery Center (PADDC) and the Lockford PADDC will occur during daylight hours up to five days per week. Lockford is a rural town in California with a population of 3,500 people while College Station is a medium-sized city in the state of Texas in the United States.

Some time ago, the e-commerce giant also unveiled Inspire, a service designed to make it easier for customers to browse new products with content, including photos and videos.

source: Ars Technica