Amazon Wants to Deploy Delivery Drones. Really.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed an experimental drone-based delivery service on Sunday, in an ambitious move by the online retailer to capitalize on a technology still being used sparsely by American businesses. Bezos said the service, dubbed Amazon Prime Air, could be ready for customer use in "four or five years."

The drones, unmanned vehicles that fly through the air, could deliver packages that weigh up to five pounds. That represents roughly 86 percent of packages that Amazon delivers. Amazon is still working on more safety testing and FAA approvals before the Prime Air fleet will be able take flight.

Delivery drones also are being used by the Australian company Zookal to deliver textbooks, said Oliver Lamb, director of Sydney-based Pacific Aviation Consulting. In China, the SF Express delivery company is experimenting with drones in the southern city of Dongguan, according to a report by the Civil Aviation Resource Net of China.

"When and how to allow this kind of delivery is going to be a big question," Lamb said. "Regulators will have to deal with this, and I'm sure each jurisdiction will come up with regulations to allow this in due course."

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