E-commerce major Amazon has announced the expansion of its drone delivery service, Prime Air, to international locations and in the US.
The retailer plans to launch the service in Italy, the UK and an unnamed US city.
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In line with this expansion plan, Amazon is working with national regulators, international regulators and communities in the EU, Italy, the UK and the US.
The retailer aims to commence drone delivery service in all three new locations by the end of 2024.
The service is eligible for thousands of items that weigh 5lb or less, including household products, beauty items, everyday essentials and office or technology supplies.
Amazon said: “We have committed the necessary time and resources to build a safe and scalable service. We have refined the technology and are now building the right infrastructure to ensure the service provides the ultimate convenience for our customers.
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By GlobalData“We’ve also taken great care to ensure that our drones’ design philosophy and demonstrated levels of safety are setting a higher bar for safety across the commercial drone delivery industry, working closely with regulators to design to the highest standard set within those regulations.”
In addition to the expansion, Amazon said that it is integrating drone deliveries into its delivery network, which will see drones fulfilling from certain Same-Day Delivery sites.
The retailer will also start integrating drone deliveries into some fulfilment centres in Italy and the UK.
Amazon’s Prime Air is also launching the new MK30 drone design, which it claims is quieter, smaller and lighter than the previous models.
The drone is equipped to fly in more diverse weather conditions and can fulfil deliveries in many conditions such as light rain and hotter and colder temperatures.
Amazon added: “Our newest drone, the MK30, is unlike any other drone. The new design can fly twice as far as previous Prime Air drone models, which will allow us to deliver to customers who live farther out from our fulfilment networks.”
