Millions of people across the world received packages from Amazon over the past few weeks, but only one received their holiday treat via drone. That’s right, a man in England was the first person on Earth to be the recipient of an Amazon drone delivery.
When Amazon announced it would start delivering packages to select shoppers with drones, people thought it was crazy. Not anymore. Amazon recently announced it made its first commercial drone delivery, on Dec. 7, to an Amazon shopper in Cambridgeshire, England.
According to The New York Times:
The flight — to deliver an Amazon Fire streaming device and popcorn to a customer identified only as Richard B. — took off from a nearby Amazon warehouse and lasted 13 minutes, covering about two miles.
Amazon said it would now test drone deliveries with two more customers near Cambridge, an English city where the company has a large drone-testing plant. If the tests are successful, the company says it wants to expand the number of consumers who could participate in the trial to dozens in the coming months, eventually allowing hundreds to use the drone service.
Still, experts say that the advent of widespread drone deliveries, even if technically possible, would take years, and regulators from the United States and elsewhere could block the plans. So, don’t go watching for drones out your window anytime soon.
Nice dron