Amazon Prime is a popular service offered by retail giant Amazon to ensure customers get their packages as quickly as possible. The company even delivers to Prime customers on Sundays to cut down on unnecessary wait times. However, the company is about to take things to the next level. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently revealed Amazon Prime Air on 60 Minutes. The service would see customers' packages delivered via air drone as soon as 30 minutes after they placed their order.
Bezos says the GPS-controlled drones can carry up to 5 lbs in cargo, which covers more than 85 percent of Amazon's products, and are capable of delivering parcels as far as 10 miles. Given the relatively small delivery area, we'd imagine Amazon Prime Air would be restricted to areas that have Amazon fulfillment centers.
The FAA is expected to introduce its policy on unmanned aerial vehicles by 2015, and it looks like Amazon wants to be ready to move forward as soon as those rules are in place. Speaking to ABC News, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that it will take a lot of work to convince the FAA.
"The hardest challenge in making this happen is demonstrating to the standards of the FAA that this is a safe thing to do. This is years of additional work at this point," Bezos is quoted as saying.
Amazon Prime currently costs $79 per year and offers customers two-day shipping on all orders. It's not clear how much extra Amazon Prime Air will cost.
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