Amazon is Testing Drones for Amazon Pharmacy Customers in Texas

This week, Amazon announced that it is testing drone deliveries for prescription medication purchased through Amazon Pharmacy, the company’s online prescription drug store.

The Drone Testing for Amazon Pharmacy Deliveries Places the Company in a Growing Market

According to a press release, Amazon Pharmacy will deliver packages by drone “within 60 minutes” of being ordered through Amazon’s online drug store. The first city for the service will be College Station, Texas, which is where Amazon has engaged in same-day drone deliveries since December 2022. Per the company, Amazon drones have delivered “hundreds of household items” to customers in College Station since then.

The announcement comes about a month and a half after UPS announced that its delivery drones received FAA approval to fly beyond where their ground operators can see them, paving the way for the carrier to execute more local drone deliveries. Like UPS, Amazon is one of a few drone delivery companies that have earned a Federal Aviation Administration air carrier certificate, which is required to operate drones with advanced capabilities. Amazon earned such a certificate from the FAA in September 2020.

Drone Delivery for Amazon Pharmacy is Only Available in College Station, Texas

Amazon’s press release specifies that College Station is the only location in the U.S. where same-day drone deliveries from Amazon Pharmacy will be available. The company also noted that Amazon Pharmacy currently offers same-day delivery in other U.S. cities such as Austin, Indianapolis, Miami, Phoenix, and Seattle. However, Amazon did not specify in its announcement whether it plans to incorporate drones into its delivery of medications in these cities in the near future.