US retail giant Amazon is set to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to nearly 500 cities and towns across the US by the end of 2026.
The expansion will extend the “ultrafast” delivery service and will represent a sixfold increase in its current coverage.
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Prime Air currently operates in seven states, including Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas, with further launches planned in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, New York and Ohio.
Amazon Prime Air vice-president David Carbon said: “We are pairing the convenience of ultrafast drone delivery with the low prices and selection customers love about Amazon.”
Each Prime Air site covers approximately 175 square miles (453.25km²) and offers items, including cosmetics, electronics, groceries, household products, and medications delivered in approximately 30 minutes, with most orders arriving within approximately 60 minutes of checkout.
Items weighing 5lb (2.26kg) or less that fit within a large shoebox are eligible for drone delivery, representing more than 60% of the items most frequently purchased on Amazon.
The service is integrated into Amazon’s existing shopping app, checkout, and customer service systems.
According to the company, Prime Air holds Federal Aviation Administration certification, the framework used for commercial air carriers.
The company said its “detect-and-avoid” system continuously monitors airspace and enables the drones to make real-time in-flight decisions.
Amazon stated that onboard cameras and sensors are used for navigation and obstacle detection and claimed that these are not used to track individuals or record movements, with no live camera feed monitored by any person.
Prime Air operates alongside Amazon’s other delivery services: Amazon Now, offering 30-minute delivery in dozens of US cities; one-hour and three-hour delivery through the same-day delivery network; and same-day delivery, available in more than 10,000 cities and towns.
In May, Amazon Business extended same-day delivery to cover fresh and perishable groceries for commercial customers across more than 2,300 locations in the US.
