Amazon users in the Californian town of Lockeford will be able to sign up to have thousands of goods delivered by air to their homes, the shopping giant expressed.
Amazon has promised drone delivery for years but has faced delays and reported setbacks.
Amazon expressed that it planned to roll out the service more widely after Lockeford.
“The promise of drone delivery has often felt like science fiction,” Amazon stated in a blog post. “later this year, Amazon customers living in Lockeford, California, will become among the first to receive Prime Air deliveries.”
“Their feedback about Prime Air will help us create a service that will safely scale to meet the needs of customers everywhere.”
Amazon said the drones will be programmed to drop parcels in the backyards of customers in Lockeford, which has a population of about 4,000 people.
They will be able to fly “beyond-line-of-sight”, meaning they don’t have to be controlled by a visual observer and instead use sensors to avoid other aircraft, people, pets and obstacles.
The aim is to get packages to customers safely in less than an hour, the retailer said.
Explaining how Prime Air deliveries would work, Amazon said: “Once onboarded, customers in Lockeford will see Prime Air-eligible items on Amazon. They will place an order as they normally would and receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for their order.
“For these deliveries, the drone will fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customer’s backyard, and hover at a safe height. It will then safely release the package and rise back up to altitude.”
