Amazon launches 'Prime Air' delivery center in Ruskin
Amazon to launch drone deliveries in Bay Area
The drone delivery service will have the capability to deliver orders to certain residential addresses in Tampa Bay. Kylie Jones reports.
TAMPA - Amazon is launching its fastest delivery option for certain customers in Tampa Bay.
"Prime Air" is launching at Amazon's TPA1 fulfillment center in Ruskin.
The drone delivery service will have the capability to deliver orders to certain residential addresses in Tampa Bay.
How it works
Amazon Prime Air will provide drone delivery service for certain orders to eligible addresses within an eight-mile radius of the Ruskin facility.
Amazon officials say drone deliveries can be completed within 30 minutes to an hour of an order being placed.
"Everything from the time it takes off, to the time it comes back and lands, is all on board and all autonomous via the drone," Josh Brundage, with Prime Air's Commercial Operations, said.
The first Prime Air operations launched outside of Phoenix, Arizona earlier this year.
Brundage says Prime Air drones will deliver to eligible residences within the radius, including certain homes and apartments.
"We do deliver to some apartment complexes at our other location in Arizona, and again, same thing," Brundage said. "They have some set locations. For those, we try to make sure the customer is available and immediately can go and get their package."
Prime Air officials say there are some addresses within the radius that the drones cannot deliver to for safety reasons.
Brundage says eligible customers in Tampa Bay will soon start seeing drone delivery as an option when they check out. They'll then be prompted to choose from pre-selected drop-off locations on the property.
"So, the homeowner gets a picture of their property from an aerial image, and then they're allowed to select," Brundage said.
The airborne robots can deliver a package that's about the size of a large shoebox and under five pounds.
Baby food and cleaning supplies are among some of the popular items delivered via drone.
"Over-the-counter medications across the board," Brundage said. "If you're not feeling well, and you don't want to leave the house, we'll bring it to you. Some other things that are really popular, you're visiting a friend and you forgot your phone charger. We can get you your cable and that power block in no time. Same thing, Airtags."
Each drone has cameras to monitor different factors like weather, air traffic and other motion around delivery spots.
"The drone is simply taking that video in that it sees essentially, and it's analyzing it on board," Brundage said. "So, when it gets into a delivery area, it's actually been trained, for lack of a better word, to recognize people, pets, cars, things that we would not want to drop a package on. And so, if it gets there, and it sees that there's something in its way, it simply won't deliver the package. It'll come back. And then those instances will notify the customer, 'Hey, here's why we couldn't finish your delivery, you know, if you want to make some adjustments'."
Brundage says they've made some improvements to the delivery system since launching in Phoenix.
READ: Amazon deliveries: The technology that helps Tampa Bay fulfillment center get packages to your door
"Because the packages are so light, in a lot of instances, the items people order a very light," he said. "When the drone actually starts to lift back off again, we can actually slide the box a little bit with that downforce from the propellers. And so, in those instances, we've worked on a heavier box."
What they're saying:
Prime Air is expected to serve more than 100,000 customers around Tampa Bay and add dozens of jobs in the area.
"People are looking for amenities," Mitchel Allen, the Senior VP of Economic Development on the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council said. "They're looking for jobs, amenities, a great place to live. And so, it's really important that as we grow as a community, we continue to identify unique opportunities."
Although the drones are autonomous, Amazon Prime Air officials say there are humans on the other end monitoring the flights.
"Each one of these sites, we're averaging between 30 and 40 brand-new hires that are coming in," Brundage said. "Some of these are people with drone backgrounds that came to Amazon from the military."
Prime Air officials say the drones aren't meant to replace delivery drivers, but instead, speed up certain deliveries.
What's next:
Amazon hopes to have Prime Air up and running in Tampa Bay in time for the holiday season.
The company says Prime Air is also launching in several other cities around the country, including Detroit and some cities in Texas.
One of Prime Air's drones will be on display at MOSI in Tampa on November 9 and 11.
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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Kylie Jones.