Amazon Reveals Delivery Drone Program at re:MARS

Even after announcing a move from two-day Prime shipping to just one day, Amazon is determined to pump out deliveries even faster. Today at the first re:MARS Conference (Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics and Space) in Las Vegas, Amazon let us in on some of the new projects they’ve been working on including the latest Prime Air delivery drones.

Amazon stressed the extreme safety measures their team took in the creation of the drones, and revealed that virtually all of the software and hardware stack was made in-house. The drones come packed with diverse sensors, advanced algorithms and proprietary computer-vision to detect both stationary and moving objects that may be in their path. The rotors of the drone are covered in shrouds that also serve as wings, and the aircraft is controlled with six degrees of freedom (compared to the standard four).

“We know customers will only feel comfortable receiving drone deliveries if they know the system is incredibly safe. So we’re building a drone that isn’t just safe, but independently safe, using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies,” said Amazon’s consumer worldwide CEO Jeff Wilke.