Google’s parent company Alphabet will begin testing delivery drones in the United States.
The project titled “Project Wing” by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has received approval this week from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin testing delivery drones in the United States.
This week’s decision will push the envelope forward in what has been a dead end in the drone delivery space. The US government, including the FAA, will be working closely with Google’s top secret and experimental Division X to expand the use of drones for delivery at the six FAA-approved test sites in the US.
The decision comes as a surprise considering that Amazon and other tech giants have been previously denied testing on US soil because the FAA does not currently allow drones to operate without a human pilot or beyond that pilot's line of sight.
There are still a lot of hurdles to overcome as new air traffic control systems are critical in allowing drones to fly over crowded urban areas. In addition, drone deliveries will need the use of network operators to manage the air control system infrastructures.
It's unlikely that delivery drones will become a reality in major cities anytime soon but in less crowded areas, the delivery of critical services and supplies will soon be a reality, with operations announced to begin this week in Washington, Nevada, and Maryland.