Amazon Pharmacy customers situated in College Station, Texas, can now receive certain prescription medications via drone delivery.
Amazon
Amazon Pharmacy customers situated in College Station, Texas, can now have their prescription medications delivered by drone, the company announced in a blog post Wednesday.
Eligible customers can access greater than 500 medications, including treatments for common conditions reminiscent of asthma and the flu, and have a drone drop them at their doorstep. The medication will arrive in lower than 60 minutes at no additional cost, Amazon said.
Shares of Amazon were down around 1% Wednesday.
Amazon Pharmacy is a full-service pharmacy that patients can access online. Amazon launched the service in 2020 following its acquisition of PillPack in 2018. The corporate has been working to entice Amazon Pharmacy customers by offering prescription perks and savings advantages for Prime members this yr.
Amazon said its drones are equipped with cameras that help them discover objects reminiscent of people and animals. The drones fly between 40 meters and 120 meters in an airspace with “minimal obstacles,” the corporate said.
Once a drone determines that the delivery space is obvious, it’ll descend and release the package containing the shopper’s medication. But when the drone detects obstacles in the delivery area, it’ll return to the Amazon success center and reattempt the delivery later.
To be eligible for drone delivery, customers in College Station, Texas, could have to join Prime Air and complete a yard survey.
Amazon has worked on drone delivery for years, and its efforts have been met with mixed success. Amazon lost two executives in August who were key to its drone delivery operations, and its Prime Air unit lost a major variety of employees as a part of the sweeping layoffs carried out by CEO Andy Jassy.
But despite internal changes at the corporate, Amazon said it has successfully delivered “tons of of home items” to consumers in College Station since late last yr.
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