Google drone deliveries expected to start in 2017

Internet giant Alphabet Inc., the new holding company for Google, expects to begin delivering packages to consumers via drones sometime in 2017, the executive in charge of its drone effort said on Monday.

Thomson Reuters Posted: Nov 03, 2015 9:03 AM EST | Last Updated: November 3, 2015

Internet giant Alphabet Inc., the new holding company for Google, expects to begindelivering packages to consumers via drones sometime in 2017,the executive in charge of its drone effort said on Monday.

David Vos, the leader for Alphabet's Project Wing, said hiscompany is in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration andother stakeholders about setting up an air traffic controlsystem for drones that would use cellular and internettechnology to coordinate unmanned aerial vehicle flights ataltitudes under 500 feet (152 metres).

"Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in2017," he told an audience at an air traffic control conventionnear Washington.

Alphabet and Amazon.com Inc are among a growingnumber of companies that intend to make package delivery bydrone a reality. But drone deliveries are not expected to takeflight until after the FAA publishes final rules for commercialdrone operations, which are expected early next year.

Two years after initial research began, Project Wing wasannounced in August 2014 with a YouTube video showing a fieldtest of its most viable prototype in Australia.

New drone types, shapes coming

The prototype flown in Australia, 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) wideand 0.8 meters (2.6 feet) tall, shares the same four-propellerquad copter design as popular consumer drones, but the companysaid consumers can expect to see new vehicle types and shapes asthe project unfolds.

Inside the United States, Project Wing has conducted testingwith NASA.

Vos, who is co-chair of an FAA task force charged withcoming up with a drone registry, said a system for identifyingdrone operators and keeping UAV away from other aircraft couldbe set up within 12 months.

"We're pretty much on a campaign here, working with the FAA,working with the small UAV community and the aviation communityat large, to move things along," he said.

Vos said a drone registry, which the Obama administrationhopes to set in place by Dec. 20, would be a first step toward asystem that could use wireless telecommunications and Internettechnology including cellphone applications to identify dronesand keep UAV clear of other aircraft and controlled airspace.

He said Google would like to see low altitude "Class G"airspace carved out for drones, saying it would keep UAV awayfrom most manned aircraft aside from low-flying helicopters,while enabling drones to fly over highly populated areas.

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Google drone deliveries expected to start in 2017

New drone types, shapes coming

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