Amazon Prime Air delivery drone revealed: What it is, how it works?

Amazon Prime Air delivery drone: Good news! To help customers get orders quickly, cost-effectively and safely in less than an hour, e-commerce platform Amazon has unveiled the design of its new Prime Air delivery drone, which will handle high temperatures and light rain.

"We’re now introducing our next generation delivery drone: the MK30. Due to come into service in 2024, this drone will be lighter and smaller than the MK27-2, the drone that will be making deliveries in Lockeford and College Station. The MK30’s increased range, expanded temperature tolerance, safety-critical features, and new capability to fly in light rain will enable customers to choose drone delivery more often," the company said in a blogpost.

The new drone will undergo rigorous evaluation by national aerospace authorities like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to prove its safety and reliability.

"We have created a sophisticated and industry-leading sense-and-avoid system that will allow our drones to operate at greater distances while safely and reliably avoiding other aircraft, people, pets, and obstacles," said Amazon.

Earlier this year, the company had announced that the customers who live in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, in the US would be among the first to receive Prime Air deliveries later this year.

"Reducing the noise signature of our drones is an important engineering challenge that our team is working on. Our drones fly hundreds of feet in the air, well above people and structures. Even when they descend to deliver packages, our drones are generally quieter than a range of sounds you would commonly hear in a typical neighborhood," the company said.

Prime Air’s Flight Science team has created new custom-designed propellers that will reduce the MK30’s perceived noise by another 25 per cent.