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Amazon set to expand drone delivery of lightweight packages to 500 US cities
Amazon said the expansion could bring drone delivery to tens of millions more people as it races rival networks and targets 1 million deliveries this year.
Amazon plans to expand Prime Air to nearly 500 U.S. cities by the end of this year, delivering lightweight packages to suburban areas in as little as 30 minutes after customers order.
Jeff Bezos first unveiled Prime Air on 60 Minutes in December 2013, a milestone nearly 13 years in the making, though both technology and Federal Aviation Administration regulations took far longer than the company expected.
Drone delivery is free for Amazon Prime members on orders exceeding $50, with a $2.99 fee for smaller orders; non-members pay $4.99 for packages weighing up to 5 pounds.
The plan intensifies competition between Amazon and Walmart to deliver packages fastest, with drones operating primarily in suburban areas while avoiding major airports and downtown skyscrapers.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy plans to serve communities with 30 million customers by year-end and expects to deliver half a billion packages by the end of this decade with the scalable design.