Amazon trialling drones for 30-minute deliveries

Amazon, the world’s biggest retailer, is planning to take online shopping to a whole new level by introducing drones for delivering parcels.

Unveiling the idea on American news program 60 Minutes yesterday, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said he hoped to see the Amazon Prime Air scheme put in place within five years.

“The big idea is half-hour delivery,” he said. “You order something and within half an hour you can have a drone land on your front porch, drop off a little box and off it goes.”

The drones would pick up the parcel and then fly to the customer’s address using GPS co-ordinates.

Bezos said that the drones can carry objects up to five pounds (2.3kg), which covers 86% of the items that Amazon’s delivers.

“I don’t want anyone to think this is just around the corner,” he said. “This is years of additional work – I’m an optimist – four or five years.”

Speaking about the motivation behind the drone delivery scheme, Bezos said: “Companies have short life spans … and Amazon will be disrupted one day,” he said. “I would love for it to be after I’m dead.”

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