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Alphabet's Loon and Wing are now more than just 'projects'
Google parent company Alphabet's internet-delivering balloon service and its drone delivery project have graduated from X programs to full-fledged businesses at Alphabet. From here, Alphabet says that Loon will maintain its mission of working with carriers worldwide to deliver internet to underserved areas. Wing will similarly continue building out its network of delivery UAVs, not to mention its air-traffic control system for the unmanned aircraft.
US will test expanded drone use in 10 states
The US government is making good on its promise to expand the use of drones. The Department of Transportation has named the 10 projects that will participate in its Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program, and they represent a wide swath of the country. Most of them are municipal or state government bodies, including the cities of Reno and San Diego, Memphis' County Airport Authority and the Transportation Departments for Kansas, North Carolina and North Dakota. However, the rest are notable: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma will be part of the program, as will the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and Virginia Tech.
Alphabet brings burritos-by-drone delivery to Australia
Apparently, Project Wing brought airborne burritos to Virginia Tech last year as preparation for something bigger. Alphabet X's experimental project is now dropping burritos (and medicine) from the skies of Australia as part of a series of tests to figure out how to run a drone delivery service efficiently. Project Wing Co-Lead James Ryan Burgess said they've teamed up with Australia Mexican food chain Guzman y Gomez and pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse to drop off orders to testers living in a rural area. These testers usually have to take a 40-minute round trip by car to get to the nearest grocery or restaurant, making them the perfect subjects for Wing's experiments.
Google tests air traffic control system that manages lots of drones
If you've been scratching your head at the FAA's extensive efforts to regulate your personal (or company) drone use, consider the chaos when they start filling the skies. That's why the agency partnered with NASA for a series of nationwide tests to explore potential systems that could track and manage a wide range of drones simultaneously. Google parent company Alphabet's Project Wing tried out its own UAV air traffic control platform yesterday, a system that might one day guide a massive volume of airborne drones to keep them from crashing into buildings, people or each other.
Alphabet's drone service reportedly nixes Starbucks delivery deal
It looks like Alphabet is walking back its Project Wing drone delivery initiative. Some employees are being told to seek other jobs within the company formerly known as Google, and the outfit even killed a partnership with Starbucks, according to Bloomberg. Wait, Starbucks? Apparently, there were talks of using the drones to deliver coffee, much in the way that Chipotle was going to fly burritos to Virginia Tech students. Google provides WiFi at some of the coffee chain's locations. "Those plans were nixed largely over disagreements about the access to customer data that Alphabet wanted," according to Bloomberg's sources. Sounds like classic Alphabet.
Burritos by drone will soon be a thing
In the biggest test of drone deliveries to date, Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. and Chipotle are bringing airborne burritos to the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. According to Bloomberg, the trial runs start this month using Alphabet's experimental Project Wing drones flying out of a Chipotle food truck.
ICYMI: Google's so much closer to delivery by drone
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Google's Project Wing is about to take off now that the US Government signed off on the company testing drone delivery within the country; perfect timing for Google's commercial launch of the service sometime in 2017. Physicists from the University of New Mexico created a laser that can cool a crystal down to negative 296 degrees Fahrenheit, which could be useful for infrared detectors on satellites or to detect skin cancer. In case you didn't see Instagram's video launching its new story function, you should see it just to sound informed when your friends talk about whether the company blatantly stole from Snapchat. Then wash that all down with YouTuber Eric Mouellic's video showing how close he came to a huge fin whale. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Feds give Google OK to test Project Wing drone deliveries
The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has been very cautious about drone testing in the US so far, but that's about to change. The FAA has granted Google's sister X division (under Alphabet) permission to test Project Wing delivery services below 400 feet at six sanctioned test sites, according to the White House. The flights will be part of a new push by the US National Science Foundation, which is spending over $35 million on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research and testing over the next five years
Google's 'Project Wing' commercial drone service to launch in 2017
We've seen Project Wing, the air-delivery service from Google, tap NASA to help sidestep reams of bureaucratic red tape and get off the ground before, and it looks like the service could soon launch in earnest. The outfit's laying the groundwork right now and says that its goal is having the commercial flights up and running in 2017, according to Reuters. The company is one of several working with the Federal Aviation Administration to develop a registry for drones and eventually dedicated air traffic control system. The former would ideally be in place by this December 20th, making sure operators are aware of rules on where, when and how to fly their aircraft.
Google registers two delivery drones for US testing (update)
Google X's Project Wing concept was a unique take on the delivery drone: a single-winged UAV that took off and landed vertically. Despite extensive testing in Australia, the plan didn't work as well as the company hoped. In March this year Google X head Astro Teller announced the organization was working on a new design, and now, FAA documents show that two Google-built UAVs, codenamed the M2 and the B3, have been registered this month in the US. The M2 made the FAA registry on October 2nd, while the B3 was listed October 7th.
Google skirted drone test rules by using a deal with NASA
Getting an FAA exemption to operate commercial drones in American airspace is almost more trouble than it's worth, what with the litany of requirements and restrictions. That's why Google, according to a Guardian report, has been sidestepping those FAA rules and testing its Project Wing UAV over private US land for more than a year. Google apparently leveraged NASA's Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA), which allows government agencies to operate UAVs but prohibits commercial use, as part of a joint project the two organizations are working on. What's more, COAs specify that any public agency operating a drone must either own it or be its exclusive operator. That would mean that the Mountain View company either "sold" NASA a Wing prototype or is relying exclusively on NASA pilots to fly the drones.
Engadget Daily: Google's delivery drone, Nintendo's new 3DS handhelds and more!
Today, we take a look at Google's "Project Wing" delivery drone, go crazy with emoticons, learn about Nintendo's new 3DS and 3DS XL handhelds and more. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Google shows off 'Project Wing' delivery drones
Amazon is selling a phone and reportedly even getting into the online ad business, so of course Google is ready to compete with its still-in-testing Prime Air drone delivery service. The Atlantic has a report on what is being called "Project Wing," a part of the Google X labs that have worked on Project Loon, Glass, driverless cars and so much more. As shown above, the idea is for a tail sitter unmanned aircraft (shown above, described as a hybrid between a plane and a helicopter that takes off and lands vertically), where the drone flies in like a plane, then hovers and lowers a package to the ground by wire before releasing it. The "egg" at the end of the wire hits the ground and drops the package before being pulled back up into the drone. So can you expect to receive a Google Shopping Express order this way anytime soon? Probably not right away, as the test shown took place in Australia, and there's plenty of testing and regulatory hurdles to get over before anyone is dropping off packages this way. If you're an interested partner (hey Netflix, maybe drones aren't a joke?) there's a sign-up sheet available. Update: Check after the break for a video of the project.
