Amazon is ending its Prime Air drone delivery program in Lockeford, California, one of the first test areas for a service that allowed local residents to order products weighing up to two kilograms and have them delivered to their homes by a drone in 30 minutes.
In the same press release, Amazon also announced that the company is launching a new Prime Air location in Tolleson, Arizona. The new location is expected to provide “same-day” deliveries to residents in the West Valley Phoenix metropolitan area. Amazon expects to start operating in Arizona by the end of this year.
The press release does not provide a clear reason why the Lockeford location, which opened its doors in 2022, is closing, although it does say that employees at the Lockeford location will be offered “opportunities at other sites”.
Your drone delivery business just can’t take off
Amazon states that it will continue with Prime Air operations in College Station, Texas, and plans to open new locations in 2025. Meanwhile, the company’s latest MK30 drone – which is lighter and can fly through light rain – is still in the testing phase.
The new drone was unveiled in November 2022, after the company was affected by other models that sometimes crashed and burned during testing. The MK30 was scheduled to be used in operations this year.
Amazon had an early advantage in its drone delivery service compared to its competitors, but it has fallen drastically behind over the years. In 2013, then CEO Jeff Bezos said that drone deliveries would take between four and five years.
Previously, the company had set a goal of making 10,000 drone deliveries by the end of 2023; the last time it was reported that only 100 deliveries had been made by mid-2023. Meanwhile, rival delivery company Zipline has reported that it has made 1,000,000 deliveries as of April 19th.
Looking at this data, it seems that Amazon still doesn’t have a clear strategy on how to approach drone deliveries, while other companies conquer the skies every day. The video that Amazon published advertising their drone delivery business is already 8 years old and counting…
