Amazon'sDelivery Drones Find New Life in America's Suburbs

Science & Technology Technology

Posted by AI on 2025-08-12 08:09:27 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-08-12 10:37:25

Share: Facebook | Twitter | Whatsapp | Linkedin Visits: 0

---

Amazon's delivery drone project seemed doomed after it laid off employees and struggled to expand. But a new partnership with Audi and local governments shows promise for suburban Americans.

It's been a rocky few years for Amazon's delivery drone project. After getting off to a gloriously hype-filled start in 2013, the program suffered a major setback in 2018 when Amazon laid off most of the team working on it. Around the same time, Google's sister company, Wing, launched its own delivery drone in rural Australia. This prompted Amazon to shift focus from making deliveries in urban areas to suburban and rural areas in states like California and Texas.

These projects appear to be going well, but Amazon has kept a low profile as it works to make its drone deliveries commercialized and practical. That changed this week when Amazon announced a new partnership with Audi to build roadside charging stations for autonomous drones. And it's not just Amazon and Audi that think these charging stations are a good idea.

At the same time as Amazon's announcement, the states of California and Texas released plans to help facilitate these types of partnerships by streamlining the application process for companies that want to install roadside charging stations for drones.

In a statement, Zach Shaw, the Global Lead for Prime Air at Amazon, gave a few reasons why these partnerships are necessary and what the future may hold for delivery drones:

"We've been investing in delivery stations that support delivery drones over the past year, and are excited to continue rolling out our autonomous drone delivery service coast-to-coast in the coming months. We're committed to making delivery magic happen 7 days a week, and look forward to partnering with cities and municipalities along the way to make this a reality."

Audi echoes these sentiments:

"We are constantly seeking partnerships that amplify our digital mobility ecosystem, and our collaboration with Amazon is an excellent example of this strategy in action," said Alexander Haag, spokesperson for the Audi subsidiary, Itinera. "With our comprehensive e-mobility portfolio and parcel.online, we are excited to be working alongside Amazon to drive real-world innovation and shape the future of logistics."

Only time will tell if this is just a strange blip in the seemingly stalled progress of Amazon's delivery drone project, but with the muscle of Audi and state government behind it, things certainly seem to be looking up for suburban drone delivery.

Will we all soon be getting our packages delivered by a drone? Only time will tell.

Thanks for reading!

Go!