Amazon has begun a project in College Station, Texas, to allow Amazon Pharmacy customers to receive more than 500 prescription medications via drone delivery.
Users of the pharmacy service will be able to have the medications delivered for free in about 60 minutes transported to their homes by drone. Amazon started testing its drone delivery service last year at College Station after initially testing in Lockeford, California. This is the first expansion of the service in the area.
The drones fly at an altitude of 40 to 120 meters and contain sense-and-avoid technology through sensors and cameras to navigate around objects like people, pets, power lines and other obstacles, Amazon said.
Cameras on the drone connect to a neural network that allows it to pilot to users’ homes where it lowers the delivery to customers via a tether. The drone also contains computer vision to detect any structures or objects on the ground during the package’s descent. Once delivery has been completed, the drone navigates back to the delivery center.
Amazon said it has delivered hundreds of household items in College Station since service began in December of last year.
“Our drones fly over traffic, eliminating the excess time a customer’s package might spend in transit on the road,” said Calsee Hendrickson, director of product and program management at Prime Air. “That’s the beauty of drone delivery, and medications were the first thing our customers said they also want delivered quickly via drone. Speed and convenience top the wish list for health purchases.”
