Amazon, which started its drone delivery service in 2022 has temporarily put a break on her use of drones following the news of its latest drone models which reportedly crashed in the facility.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the e-commerce giant has paused all commercial drone deliveries in Texas and Arizona. The decision comes following the two latest MK30 drones crashing at Pendleton while testing in rainy weather. Notably, Amazon has established a test site in Pendleton, Oregon to test drone flights for package delivery purposes.
The crash incidents occurred last month in December 2024. As per the report, at the time of the flights, the weather was rainy, and during the test, two MK30 drones witnessed crashes. In fact, one drone even caught fire after falling at the testing site.
Meanwhile, Amazon cited a software issue as the reason behind these crashes. However, the company told the publication that the crashes are not the main reason behind the temporary halt of drone delivery operations.
The company made it clear that it has voluntarily decided to pause the operation for a while as software changes are still in process.
The company also stated that the drone delivery department staff will continue to be paid during the pause.
Actually, Amazon has to obtain approval from the private flight regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, before resuming drone delivery operations. Notably, this is not the first time Amazon has experienced an accident regarding drones. Earlier to this incident, two MK30 drones had collided during another test.
Amazon claims to have delivered thousands of items to customers via drone deliveries since the launch. Not only that but at one time, Amazon was planning to deliver over 500 million packages via drone deliveries by 2030.
Amazon is aiming to gain an edge in this market as the drone package delivery market size is projected to grow from $0.69 billion in 2024 to $4.67 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 37.4%.