A first look at Amazon’s new delivery drone, slated to start deliveries this year

Nearly a decade after Jeff Bezos first announced drone delivery, Amazon says it’s finally ready to start air-dropping packages — literally.

The latest drone model will drop packages from 12 feet in the air.

“If the drone encounters another aircraft when it’s flying, it’ll fly around that other aircraft. If, when it gets to its delivery location, your dog runs underneath the drone, we won’t deliver the package,” said Calsee Hendrickson, who leads product and program management for the Prime Air drone program.

Hendrickson gave CNBC a first look at the drone, the MK27-2, on Thursday. She said it will start making deliveries in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, by the end of 2022. Some residents in the small rural town of Lockeford have expressed concerns about privacy and safety. Amazon insists the drones are safe.

“We like to refer to the drone as being independently safe, which means that it has the power to make the decision. It saw something that had a heat signature underneath the drone and was able to not deliver a package and return back to the station. But the drones do have an operator in command that is overseeing the entire airspace,” Hendrickson said.

The drone is about five-and-a-half feet in diameter and weighs 80 pounds, according to Hendrickson. It can only carry packages weighing less than five pounds, and deliveries must fit in one box about the size of a shoe box.