Amazon drone deliveries nearly ready for prime time with Oregon crashes in rear-view mirror

Amazon made news this month by announcing it will start package deliveries by aerial drone to real customers in a northern California town. In the run up to the U.S. debut, the company conducted extensive flight tests in Eastern Oregon, where it experienced a spate of crashes. Amazon said Monday the upcoming rollout of commercial drone delivery signifies the refined technology is safe and no longer experimental.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant announced on its corporate blog that the first U.S. customers to be able to order small items for speedy delivery by drone will be in Lockeford, California.

Lockeford is an unincorporated town at the north end of the Central Valley with a population of about 3,500. California Assemblyman Heath Flora, who represents the area in the Legislature, said it’s natural to ask, “Why Lockeford?” He sat in on an advance briefing Amazon provided to local officials.