Jeff Bezos likes to surprise. Roaming Amazon's global headquarters in 2013, the tycoon promised a television crew half his fortune if they could guess his company's latest innovation. "Oh my God," one of his wide-eyed guests exclaimed, as they caught sight of autonomous delivery drones. Bezos, a self-declared optimist, suggested it could happen by 2017, or maybe 2018. "I know this looks like science fiction. It's not," he told 60 Minutes on CBS in 2013.

Amazon has some big plans for its drone delivery program, including an international expansion to the UK and Italy in 2024. The company also aims to start drone operations in a third US city next year, following existing efforts in College Station, Texas (where it just started offering prescription medication delivery by drone) and Lockeford, California. Drone deliveries in the UK and Italy will start at one site each before expanding to more locations over time. Amazon says it will announce the specific locations for the US, UK and Italy expansion in the coming months. Moreover, Amazon will integrate the Prime Air program into its delivery network.