ALBAWABA – Amazon is turning off the switch on its drone delivery services Lockeford, California, which served as a testing program that allowed customers to receive orders under 5 pounds if weight via drones in mere 30 minutes, announcing a new location to test its program; Tolleson, Arizona.
The Prime Air program started in 2022, which Amazon says it succeeded in delivering thousands of items to clients in less than an hour after ordering, emphasizing in its statement on Amazon Pharmacy’s service which allowed the drone delivery of prescription medication.
Since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos initially presented his idea of autonomous drones carrying parcels in 2013, the program, has had difficulty getting off the ground, as CNBC notes, being a victim of wide layoffs that the company has faced last year, cutting 18,000 overall jobs.
Yet in its statement, Amazon said that it still going to push forward with the project, hoping to set up in a portion of the Phoenix region later this year and that it would continue to extend drone deliveries to other American cities by 2025.
The online shopping giant added that it is in close collaboration with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and local authorities in Tolleson in order to secure the necessary permissions for its operations, saying “we’ll begin reaching out to customers in the West Valley so they can receive drone deliveries when the service goes live later this year,” once they receive regulatory clearance.
Juan F. Rodriguez, mayor of Tolleson, has commented on the announcement saying “As Amazon embarks on the national expansion of its Amazon Drone Delivery Program, we're proud to have their innovative presence in our community.”
