Amazon Expands Drone Delivery Service to Nearly 500 U.S. Cities
Amazon plans to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to nearly 500 cities across the United States by year-end, marking a significant growth in what has been a slow-moving project since Jeff Bezos first proposed it over a decade ago. The expansion follows regulatory approval for longer-range deliveries and recent internal projections from David Carbon, Amazon’s Vice President of Prime Air, who predicted one million drone deliveries this year. The company currently makes thousands of daily drone deliveries and claims to be the highest-demand service in the industry. Despite early challenges including technical hurdles, community pushback over noise and privacy concerns, and staff reductions, Amazon has steadily expanded beyond initial markets like Dallas and Phoenix into 11 metro areas with more on the way. Amazon is also testing new delivery methods such as a tethered system for fragile items to improve customer experience. The company faces competition from Alphabet’s Wing and Zipline, which have already reached significant milestones in drone deliveries.
