Amazon Launches New Drone; Expands Phoenix Deliveries

Amazon announced this week that it has expanded drone delivery in Phoenix and offered a first look at its new MK30 drones.

Prime Air drone delivery is now available in the West Valley of the Phoenix Metro Area. Customers near Amazon’s Tolleson, Arizona, site can have items weighing five pounds or less delivered by drone in less than an hour.

Facilities next to the Tolleson location are where Amazon will deploy its new MK30 drones. Amazon said these are smaller, hybrid sites that are part fulfillment center and part delivery station, allowing the company to fulfill, sort and deliver products all from one location, making for quicker delivery. 

The MK30 delivery drone replaces Amazon’s previous drones. It received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to begin customer operations and make deliveries beyond visual line of sight. 

In the West Valley, customers can choose from more than 50,000 everyday essentials for drone deliveries, the largest selection for this service Amazon has been able to offer. 

The MK30 drone was developed with innovative, safety-critical features in mind, Amazon said, allowing it to deliver packages to homes with smaller backyards and in more densely populated areas. 

“The MK30, which went through an aerospace-grade certification process in collaboration with the FAA, flies twice as far as our previous drones, is about 50% quieter to the human ear and is built to fly in rainy weather,” Amazon said. 

Related:Amazon to Test Delivery Drones in the UK This Year

“We’ve flown the new MK30 drone and put it through its paces at our indoor and outdoor test facilities. We’re using the data from this process to demonstrate to regulators around the world the reliability of our system.”

The MK30 delivery drones have also started making deliveries in College Station, Texas.

In August, it was announced that Amazon could be delivering packages by drone in the United Kingdom by the end of this year after the company was selected by the U.K.’s airspace regulator to take part in a trial of beyond visual line of sight drone flights.

In April, Amazon pulled the plug on its Prime Air drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California after two years of operation.