Amazon plans to expand Prime Air drone delivery to nearly 500 cities and towns across the U.S. by year-end, a sixfold increase over the 11 sites it runs in 10 metro areas. Prime Air vice president David Carbon told staff in March that the program would reach 1 million deliveries in 2026, on a recording of the all-hands that CNBC obtained, but Amazon puts the count so far at hundreds of thousands. Three incidents are under investigation, two drones that hit a crane in Tolleson, Arizona in October, one that snapped an internet cable in Waco, Texas in November, and one that crashed into a Darlington, England garden last month. Carbon said Prime Air is testing a retractable tether that lowers packages instead of dropping them from 13 feet, which could make eggs and other perishables eligible.
