Amazon has become the first company in the UK to offer drone delivery, albeit in a currently limited range.

The online retail giant delivered its first UK packages by drone yesterday in the market town of Darlington, Country Durham. Residents living within 7.5 miles (12km) of Amazon’s Darlington fulfilment centre are now able to receive packages weighing less than 2.2kg (5lbs) by drone.

The company believes there is demand for the ultra-fast deliveries this enables, and hopes to slowly expand the service, the BBC reported.

The news service said that its first test runs were completed on the farm of Rob Shield, who ordered rubber gloves. The package was dropped from a height of 12ft (3.6m) onto his lawn.

Shield was positive about the deliveries, telling the BBC that "You obviously start realising 'I actually need something today' like tape measures and stuff like that you're always losing - we just order it and it comes."

The current delivery time for these drones is two hours, with a maximum capacity of ten flights an hour, or up to 100 deliveries a day on weekdays.

Amazon began its drone flight tests in the UK in January, using its most advanced MK30 model. The drones are equipped with what the company calls “detect-and-avoid” technology, allowing them to evade hazards such as trampolines, washing lines or people that would not be visible on satellite mapping. This also allows them to navigate out of the way of obstacles in the air, including other Amazon drones.
The company said at the time of the tests that the drones were no louder than an average delivery van.

---