Drone Pharmacy? Amazon Delivering Medications by Drone

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Imagine you’re feeling a headache and have no pain medication and can’t be bothered to drive to the nearest pharmacy. With Amazon’s new announcement, you could have a drone drop off the package on your doorstep.

Amazon announced earlier this week that pharmacy customers located in College Station, Texas, can now have their prescription medications delivered by drone. Customers who are eligible can subscribe to Prime Air and access over 500 medications including treatments for common conditions like asthma and the flu, and the medication arrives in less than 60 minutes at no additional cost, according to Amazon. Amazon’s pharmacy is a full-service online pharmacy that was launched in 2020.

According to CNBC News, Amazon’s drones are equipped with cameras that help them identify objects (such as people and animals) and can fly between 40 meters and 120 meters in an airspace with “minimal obstacles.” Once a drone determines that the delivery space is clear, it will descend and release the package containing the customer’s medication. But if the drone detects obstacles in the delivery area, it will return to the Amazon fulfillment center and reattempt the delivery later.

Amazon has worked on drone delivery for years, but its efforts were met with only mixed success- the company lost two executives in August who were key to its drone delivery operations, and its Prime Air unit lost a significant number of employees as part of the sweeping layoffs. Nevertheless, despite internal changes at the company, Amazon said it has successfully delivered “hundreds of household items” to consumers in College Station since late last year.