Amazon trialling drones for half hour parcel delivery

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talked about the concept in a US TV interview at the weekend.

The service will be known as Amazon Prime Air and the company hopes to have it up and running within five years.

Bezos said: "The big idea is half-hour delivery. You order something and within half an hour you can have a drone land on your front porch, drop off a little box and off it goes.”

The drone Octocopters would pick up a parcel and fly it to the customer’s address within 10 miles of a fulfillment centre using GPS co-ordinates (without anyone controlling it).

The drones can carry parcels up to around 2.5kg, which covers greater than 80% of Amazon’s delivered items.

The $75 billion company has tested drone delivery but is yet to win approval for the scheme from the relevant aviation authorities in the US.

The drones are said to be very green, burning far less petrol than delivery trucks.

Similar ideas have been floated elsewhere - in China and in Australia.