Amazon's drone deliveries have been planned since 2013. This was introduced by founder Jeff Bezos as he pushed to deliver packages in 30 minutes through air. After planning the project for ten years, the division will be affected by the recent layoffs of the company.
BRIESELANG, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 28: (EDITORS NOTE: Image taken with a drone) In this aerial view, an Amazon packaging center is photographed on November 28, 2019 in Brieselang, Germany. Amazon is anticipating a strong holiday season and has hired extra workers at its packaging center across Germany. Meanwhile workers at some of the centers, though not at Brieselang, have announced strikes to further their demands for better pay. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
(Photo : Sean Gallup/Getty Images) BRIESELANG, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 28: (EDITORS NOTE: Image taken with a drone) In this aerial view, an Amazon packaging center is photographed on November 28, 2019 in Brieselang, Germany. Amazon is anticipating a strong holiday season and has hired extra workers at its packaging center across Germany.
Laying Off Workers from Drone Deliveries Unit
Amazon confirmed its plans earlier this month on laying off 70% of its workforce, affecting almost 18,000 workers. This was the biggest headcount reduction in the history of the company. The layoffs will include divisions from the company that contributed to long-term projects, including Prime Air.
Drone deliveries just started testing in markets, which just started gaining attraction in recent weeks. CNBC reported that employees from the unit were informed about the workforce reduction last Wednesday, affecting departments of design, maintenance, systems engineering, flight testing, and flight operations.
The company started dismissing the employees at multiple locations, including the Seattle headquarters and a drone testing facility in Oregon. As per the report, half of the employees were already laid off.
10 Years in the Making
This comes only two months after the company introduced a redesigned drone that could fly further than the previous model.
The company spent years testing the drone technology to help the former Chief to realize and visualize his vision towards a more rapid delivery that the company can offer by dropping off packages without using gas vehicles that clog up roads in neighborhoods.
In 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration gave Amazon the green light as they approved the start of trialing and testing the newest way of deliveries.
Several setbacks were experienced by the division in making the perfect, safest, and fastest drone. Resignations from employees also started when multiple crashes at the Pendleton test site happened. In June 2021, a crash sparked a 20-acre fire.
Meanwhile, Amazon Spokesperson stated, "No one has ever been injured or harmed as a result of these flights, and each test is done in compliance with all applicable regulations."
November last year, Prime Air Head DavidCarbon stated that they are aiming to deliver 500 million packages by drone annually to millions of customers in major cities like Seattle, Boston, and Atlanta. Befrore the year ends, Amazon Prime Air became live as the company started delivering orders by drones in California and Texas.
Other Affected Divisions
Amazon did not confirm how many employees were laid off from the division. The spokesperson was asked regarding this matter but pointed back to the Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy's blog post announcing the job cuts.
Engadget reported that executives of the company also laid off workers from the Alexa unit, hardware, robotics, and physical store divisions.
