Google plans drone delivery service for 2017
2 November 2015 Technology
Search giant Google has announced a date for the launch of its drone
delivery service.
Called Project Wing, the initiative aims to be delivering goods to
consumers using the robot aircraft sometime in 2017.
The announcement came from David Vos, the project leader for the
delivery service.
Online retailers such as Amazon, Alibaba and others are also
experimenting with drone delivery.
"Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017,"
said Mr Vos during a speech at an air traffic control convention being
held in Washington.
No details have been given about what type of drones Google might
use for the service nor what type of packages they will be delivering.
Details about Project Wing emerged in 2014. Initially it was run inside
Google X - the firm's secretive research lab. It is now believed to be
under the control of Alphabet - the parent company that the former
divisions of Google now operate under.
For that early work the company built its own drones and flew them in
trials in Australia. Early reports suggested the drones would be used
for disaster relief or to deliver urgently needed medical supplies.
Google's custom-designed drones can hover and winch packages
down to the ground for delivery.
Amazon has already detailed its plans to use drones to deliver goods.
It said its octocopters could ferry 2.3kg of goods to customers within
30 minutes of an order being placed.
In addition, in early 2015, China's largest online retailer Alibaba carried
out a three-day trial of drone delivery around its offices in Beijing,
Shanghai and Guangzhou.