Amazon said on Sunday that it will soon be introducing Prime Air, a service that will deliver packages using drones, rather than the typical delivery companies like UPS and FedEx. The service could be up and running within five years and would deliver packages within 30 minutes of your order if you live near one of the online retail giant’s warehouses.
The service was announced by the company first and then CEO Jeff Bezos mentioned it in his 60 Minutes interview last night. Amazon’s announcement sounded enthusiastic over the project, noting that the only thing standing in the program’s way is new regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration. The announcement says that the service could be running by 2015, once the FAA rules on unmanned vehicles are in place.
According to NBC News, Bezos sounded more cautious about the project on 60 Minutes, noting that it could be four to five more years before Prime Air starts.
Bezos said that the service will have “half-hour delivery, and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds, which covers 86 percent of the items that we deliver.”
It’s also worth noting, as Policio notes, there was no mention of Bezos’ recent purchase of the Washington Post, although Charlie Rose asked him if a cloud contract with the CIA was a conflict. He said no, it is not.
Here’s the full 60 Minutes interview with Bezos:
And here’s Amazon’s Prime Air demonstration:
image: Amazon.com