RICHMOND, Texas (Covering Katy News) — Amazon is bringing its Prime Air drone delivery service to Fort Bend County, with a fulfillment center in Richmond set to become the first location in the greater Houston market to offer the ultra-fast delivery option, according to a filing with the State of Texas.
Nearly four years after Amazon first tested drone delivery in Texas at College Station, the company's HOU6 fulfillment center at 10507 Harlem Road in Richmond will serve as the base of operations for Prime Air in the area. Josh Brundage, Amazon Prime Air's senior manager of commercial operations, told the Houston Business Journal that Richmond was selected because of its existing fulfillment center and active customer base — two factors the company looks for when expanding the service to new markets.
Amazon's filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation says the company will invest $2.25 million and will build "a new 1,800 square foot office with drone storage and launch pads." TDLR filings are preliminary and subject to change.
How It Works
If Amazon drone delivery is available in a customer's neighborhood, they can select drone delivery when placing an order and track the delivery through the Amazon app. Prime members receive discounts on drone delivery consistent with other Amazon delivery options.
Brundage, speaking on a public service podcast that streams for an Illinois audience, described how the ordering process works.
"If it's an eligible item — five pounds or less and fits in essentially a large shoebox-size box — then you'll find out at checkout that you're drone-eligible and you can have your order in less than two hours," he said.
Addressing Privacy Concerns
The drones operate fully autonomously and are equipped with cameras used solely for navigation and obstacle avoidance — not video streaming. Operators monitoring flights in real time see only a moving map displaying the drone's altitude, airspeed, location and system health.
"The drones are totally autonomous. They do have cameras on board, but those cameras are simply to help the drone navigate the world and they do not stream any video back off the drone," Brundage said. "The people that do monitor the drones while they're in flight, they're basically looking at a moving map."
Manufacturing and Safety
Amazon holds FAA Part 135 air carrier certification, placing Prime Air under the same federal regulatory framework as commercial air carriers. The company designs, manufactures and operates its own drones out of Seattle, allowing it to respond quickly to any needed changes across its entire fleet.
"We get the parts, we manufacture the drones in Seattle — they're manufactured by Amazon employees, the software is written by Amazon employees," Brundage said. "That allows us to, if we do discover something that needs to be changed, we can react incredibly quickly and we can scale that across the entire Amazon fleet very quickly."
Not all fulfillment centers are candidates for Prime Air expansion. Brundage said airspace considerations play a role in site selection, and locations near an airport may be limited to ground delivery only.
Jobs and Timeline
According to the Houston Business Journal, Amazon expects to add approximately 40 jobs at the Richmond site for the Prime Air operation. Those positions — including flight monitors, ground handlers and maintenance technicians — require a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 drone pilot license, with additional certifications available for drone maintenance roles.
The company has previously launched Prime Air sites in the Phoenix area, the Dallas area and suburban Chicago.