Google Wants Their Drone Delivery System To Take Off By 2017

As much as commercial drones give us breathtaking aerial shots during natural disasters or giant rallies, their potential definitely hasn't been tapped into. 

On Monday, Google's holding company Alphabet Inc. announced that it expects to use a fleet of drones to deliver stuff to customers by 2017. 

David Vos, the head of Alphabet's Project Wing, said his division was talking with the Federal Aviation Administration about creating an air traffic control system for their drones controlled only by cellular and Internet tech. But don't look to the skies yet; the FAA has to publish rules for all commercial drones first and that wouldn't start until next year.

Alphabet's drones only fly up to 500 feet and would be similar to those of Amazon.com, who is aiming to deliver their products directly to schmucks via drones, cutting down on a colossal waste of time making small talk with the delivery guy.

Project Wing's prototypes, which were field-tested in Australia in 2014, look a lot like the four-propeller quadcopters that are sold commercially, but more designs would be on the rise once the project is more established.

Alphabet's Project Wing drones, which were field-tested in Australia in 2014

"We're pretty much on a campaign here, working with the FAA, working with the small UAV community and the aviation community at large, to move things along," Vos said. He said it would only take a year to set up a drone registry for operators and to make sure other aircraft don't crash into the drones.

Google is hoping to carve out so-called "Class G" airspace specifically for drones that is well below where manned aircraft fly yet still over populated areas.

The Obama administration had wanted to set up the drone registry by Dec. 20.




Main image and collage image via YouTube / Google

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