Google’s parent company Alphabet will begin testing its recently approved Project Wing delivery drones in the US.
Following permission given by the White house for drones to be used within the US, Alphabet’s drones will be tested in one of the six designated Federal Aviation Authority areas as part of the government’s initiative to promote research into unmanned flight and safety legislation.
The announcement was made along with a pledge from the US National Science Foundation to spend $35m over the next five years on drone research, which comes a month after the US government green-lit commercial drone flights but with restrictions which made automated drone delivery infeasible.
The White House said; “Project Wing is planning for the testing to include operations with external cargo loads and to build towards beyond line of sight capabilities. The company will also begin to develop and deploy an open-interface, airspace management solution for safe low-altitude small UAS operations using existing low cost, scalable communication and information technologies.”
The tests of delivery drones will help shape US legislation around the types of automated flying systems that Amazon and Alphabet hope to use to deliver goods and services via air.
Alphabet’s head of Project Wing, Dave Vos said; “I don’t think about the problems. I think about the solutions that we can bring to bear.”
Amazon and the UK government announced a partnership in July to explore the viability of drone deliveries beyond the line of flight and sights where one person is able to control multiple autonomous drones.
