Nov 16, 2024 Last Updated 04:52 AM EST

NewsAmazon, Drone, amazon prime air, Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, video, FAA

Amazon Prime Air gives customers a glimpse of the future of delivery in its new video

Dec 01, 2015 08:14 PM EST

Amazon has released an update to their vision of their expanded delivery service called "Amazon Prime Air", with its new hybrid drone prototype, promising to deliver goods in less than 30 minutes.

The drone will take off from nearby Amazon distribution centers and land into the backyard of the customer, targeting a large sheet on the ground that is emblazoned with the Amazon logo.

The delivery with the drone consists of carrying the package within its fuselage and then landing on the ground of the customer to then carefully lower the package to the ground for the customer to pick up. As the Independent notes, this is different than the strategy Google's drones have taken, with their drone releasing a package mid-air to float to the ground.

The hybrid description refers to the prototype's ability to move horizontally and vertically through the use of its eight propellers, thereby deeming an 'octocopter'. An Amazon spokesperson talking with TechCrunch described the design this way: "This design enables it to fly long distances efficiently and go straight up and down in a safe, agile way. One day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road." The drone in the video is supposedly capable of a range of 15 miles going around 55mph.

However this will not be the only drone in the air from Amazon.  According to CNET, Amazon is working multiple drones. As host of the video, Jeremy Clarkson, the former "Top Gear" host states, "In time there will be a whole family of Amazon drones, different designs for different environments."

In regards to safety Amazon states that its drone has a "sense and avoid" feature that will scan the area to identify obstacles and choose the best path to avoid them. And because of the nine propellers the drone has a safeguard since it can still run even if multiple motors fail.

There are still legal hurdles to manage with the FAA effectively putting deployment of the service on hold until they can draft regulations on unlicensed commercial drone operations. So if Amazon manages to perfect the drones' navigation systems, the company may have to have its first launch outside of the US, where regulatory support for the operation could arrive swifter.

The company had been teasing its customers about their drone delivery service since December 2013 until they finally released a video of the drone actually in action on November 29, 2015.