Alphabet gets FAA clearance to begin testing delivery drones in the US
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.
Think of all the pizzas that will be flying around...
This will be a revolution on how pizzas are delivered @ommmnamaste. I can't wait!
In the future well prob be able to rent drones that are in the area and deliver things locally if we need, so p2p Craigslist type drone service? Or how about drone security that you could rent for the right price, you could have drones circling your house detecting any movement outside and send you alerts...drone chain?
Drone P2P does sound enticing @ommmnamaste! And so does the CL drone delivery service. This could very well be the future. I believe that drones will be used for security purposes, especially considering that they are already being used by the military for stealthy reconnaissance missions. I can see an ADT drone fleet in the future.
As exciting as this is... I am curious to see how this develops. It may spawn a whole new industry... for lawyers. Instead of ambulance chasers you may be hearing about "drone chasers" in the near future, as lawyers cash in on what inevitably will happen when a drone malfunctions, crashes, and harms someone.
Let's see what the future brings,
Mike
Great point @etcmike!
This could really spawn a whole new market for lawyers, but I really hope it doesn't.
It would be absolutely unethical for people to take advantage of technology to in a way extort money from companies,but I'm sure this wouldn't have been the first time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
People are going to start shooting drones down for their cargo. sad but true
That's a very likely possibility @cloh76, but I really hope that it never comes down to that.
I upvote U