The Google drone testing initiative will be overseen by Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and will be pitched as a rival delivery service to Amazon Prime Air.
The delivery service is known as Google Project Wing and will launch in 2017. The company first announced it way back in 2014, filing a detailed patent that seemed to elude Project wing could be more sophisticated than Amazon Prime Air. With mobile delivery bots that maneuver into place underneath the drone, it allows the drones to pick up packages autonomously. This is done using a series of infrared beacons and lasers.
Since then, things have been very quiet until this Tuesday, when the White House finally gave a green light for testing of Alphabet’s Project Wing. Now we can see exactly what Google has up it sleeves. The concessions granted by the White House will allow the company to trial their services at one of the six Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved testing sites, exploring the possibilities of unmanned flight.
Further to this, the White House has also overturned previous legislature regarding line-of-sight laws, meaning that the market could be about to get a lot more competitive. Obviously, companies will still need to apply for these concessions to be granted but in the meantime, it could mean Amazon’s place as the only major player in the drone delivery world is coming to an end.
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