Amazon's Prime Air service will begin making drone deliveries in California this year

In 2013, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced the company was working on 30-minute drone deliveries. At the time, Bezos said the service wouldn't launch until 2015 at the very earliest. Now, nearly a decade later after that first reveal, Amazon says its Prime Air service is nearly ready. Starting later this year, the company will begin making drone deliveries in Lockeford, California, Amazon announced in a blog post spotted by The Verge. The pilot program will see the company's UAVs carry "thousands" of different items directly to the backyards of Amazon customers in the area.