Amazon said on Thursday it had successfully completed an initial test of using delivery drones in Italy, the first European country where the e-commerce giant plans to introduce the service. The test was carried out on Wednesday in San Salvo, a town in the central Abruzzo region. "The company continues to work with Italian authorities to meet all the requirements needed to launch the service next year," Amazon said. So-called Prime Air drone package deliveries, first launched in December 2022, are currently operational in a couple of U.S. locations in Texas and Arizona, and are due to be gradually expanded, a company spokesperson told Reuters. "Amazon delivery drones flew for the first time in Italian skies on December 4, 2024. The test flight was made with the new MK-30 drone, the highly automated drone system that uses the industry-leading Amazon computer vision program," its statement said on the test in Italy.

