Amazon Ends Prime Air Drone Delivery in California

Amazon has announced the end of its Prime Air drone delivery program in Lockeford, California.

This marked the end of an early testing zone where residents could receive deliveries of products weighing up to five pounds within 30 minutes via drone.

Amazon disclosed this in a press release on its official website on Monday but did not explicitly state the reason behind the closure of the Lockeford location, which commenced operations in 2022. 

In a fresh move, the e-commerce giant revealed plans to launch a new Prime Air location in Tolleson, Arizona, aiming to offer "same-day" deliveries to residents in the West Valley Phoenix metro area. Operations in Arizona are scheduled to commence later this year.

Amazon assures that employees from Lockeford will be provided with opportunities at other sites.

Prime Air operations will continue in College Station, Texas, with plans to establish new locations in 2025.

The announcement also mentions ongoing testing of the latest MK30 drone, designed to be lighter and capable of flying through light rain.

The introduction of the MK30 drone follows previous setbacks encountered with other models, some of which reportedly crashed during testing.

The MK30 was anticipated to be operational this year, as revealed in November 2022.

Despite Amazon's early lead in drone delivery services, the company has faced significant challenges in keeping pace with competitors.

CEO Jeff Bezos had forecasted drone deliveries to be feasible within four to five years back in 2013.

Amazon's initial goal of completing 10,000 drone deliveries by the end of 2023 fell short, with only around 100 deliveries reported by mid-2023.

In contrast, rival delivery firm Zipline has achieved over 1,000,000 deliveries as of April 19th, underscoring the competitive landscape in the drone delivery sector.