Parent company Google to experiment with drone delivery

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, will soon be testing the delivery of products with a drone. Students from a university in Virginia, USA, are taking part in the experiment, which will last only a few weeks.

Bloomberg reports this on the basis of statements by Project Wing, the part of Alphabet that is responsible for the drone program. Since Project Wing has now received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration, drone delivery can start as early as this month.

The idea is that students at a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, can order burritos from fast food chain Chipotle, which will then be delivered to campus by drone. The deliveries are made from a food truck of the company, where the drone must be able to deliver the burrito directly to the customer. In case something goes wrong, people are ready to take over the control of the drone.

Due to the complexity of the delivery and possible security concerns, the program will start as an experiment at first. This will only take a few weeks, after which the results of the drone delivery will be evaluated. Whether a permanent way of drone delivery will be rolled out after that, therefore, remains to be seen.