The First-Ever Amazon Drone Deliveries Have Begun
 
   
 

 
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that an Amazon drone has completed its first ever package delivery to a customer. The delivery, which took place on December 7, is part of a continuing private customer trial the company is running in the Cambridge region of England. The whole delivery took about 13 minutes—from the moment the customer made the purchase to the time the drone came hovering down in their front lawn with the package. Amazon released a video of the delivery today, and Jeff Bezos proudly tweeted about it as well.

The beta trial is starting with just two customers now, and will increase to dozens and hundreds in the coming months, according to the Amazon video

Amazon has thousands of little “fulfillment centers” that serve a geographical region. If a customer orders something that is available in the center, they’ll be eligible for Amazon Prime Air, as the drone program is called. After an order is made, the package is sent to a waiting drone.

The drones fly under 400 feet so they’re not a danger to aircraft, are capable of traveling 10 miles from the center to a home using GPS to navigate, and can carry a package under five pounds.

It may take some time yet for Amazon Prime Air to be able to legally deliver packages in the U.S  because of tighter FAA regulations—which is why this trial is taking place in the UK—On the drone program’s website they insist that “One day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road.”