Alphabet’s GOOGL Project Wing’s (the drone delivery project) chief David Vos stated that the company plans to begin delivering packages through drones in 2017.
Google started working on drones in 2011, and Project Wing was first revealed in August last year with a fixed-wing drone. However, it was later scrapped because it was too hard to control. Project Wing has already started testing the new model, though it hasn’t been revealed to the public and affirms that the new models are capable of effectively functioning in just over a year.
The news follows successful test flight deliveries in Australia earlier this year. Also, in October, Google registered two new drone models with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for testing in Colorado. Google also recently carried out stateside tests under NASA’s supervision.
This is the first time Google has specified a use case for its drone development efforts. It now appears that these self-flying vehicles will expedite deliveries of consumer packages by avoiding road traffic. Google believes that the unmanned vehicles can open up completely new ways to move goods –- including alternatives that are economical, quicker, less wasteful and more finely tuned with the environment. Google also sees the technology as a way to deliver much required medicines and supplies in emergencies like natural disasters.
However, details regarding what type of packages will be supported, where they'll be delivered, and at what scale haven’t been revealed.
The drones are said to have a carrying capacity of five pounds (2.3kg) and the ability to lower products to the ground with the help of a tether featuring "a little bundle of electronics at the end" that detects when a package has landed on the ground.
But they haven't tested the sense-and-avoid technology that will help them avoid accidents in the real world. Nor has the FAA decided new rules about how commercial drones will operate yet.
Moreover, Google already faces competition in the space from the likes of Amazon AMZN, Alibaba BABA, Walmart WMT and others also experimenting with drone delivery.
Google carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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