Amazon has gutted the safety teams for its ambitious drone delivery program, as employees warn of stepped-up pressure to meet delivery goals

• Amazon launched its Prime Air drone delivery program ten years ago.
• A string of crashes at one test site has led some employees to raise safety concerns.
• Prime Air's safety teams have been hit hard by Amazon's far-reaching layoffs, employees said.

When Amazon announced last summer that the towns of College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California, would be its first test sites for package delivery by automated drone, some residents expressed concerns.

The possibility of Amazon's nearly-90-pound drone "falling from the sky onto our home, onto our car, onto our children" was nerve-wracking, College Station resident Amina Alikhan said at a public meeting last summer.