Amazon on Wednesday said it has delivered its first Prime Air order, an important milestone after revealing its drones program three years ago. It was approved to evaluate drones in three main areas: flights beyond line of sight in rural and suburban areas; tests of sense-and-avoidance systems; and operations by one person of multiple drones. The full flight happens autonomously, including the landing, and the idea is to ensure that all deliveries arrive within 30 minutes. The first delivery was on December 7th and didn’t fly too far, but this is still a major step for Prime Air, which looked like little more than an early April Fools’ joke when Amazon first announced this project. At least for the private test phase, these customers won't have to pay any additional shipping costs; no word on whether that could change as the program grows. Moreover, Prime Air drones can currently only carry packages of five pounds or less, leaving many of the items Amazon sells unable to be shipped by the method. The project has started with just two customers in the UK, but Amazon plans to expand participation to dozens of customers living several miles from its UK facility and hopes to eventually expand to hundreds more.
– Amazon has made its first delivery by drone. The inaugural "Amazon Prime Air" delivery took place last week, but was just reported by the company Wednesday. The long-anticipated air delivery took just 13 minutes, CNET reports. Amazon's goal for Prime Air is for deliveries to take 30 minutes or less. A customer in England ordered an Amazon Fire TV stick and a bag of popcorn, and a GPS-guided drone dropped it off in his backyard. TechCrunch calls it "a major step for Prime Air, which looked like little more than an early April Fools’ joke when Amazon first announced" it. The private UK beta program, which allows for deliveries of certain items during daylight hours as long as weather permits, is so far serving just two customers, but will eventually expand to dozens and then hundreds more in the Cambridge area, Ars Technica reports. In the US, however, drone deliveries are essentially banned for now, since FAA regulations require a drone operator to be able to see the drone while it's flying. As Fortune points out, there are other hurdles, including the fact that drones can so far carry packages weighing only up to five pounds, and can only deliver to customers within a relatively small area around a fulfillment center.