Google reveals delivery drones to take on Amazon's package dropping project
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Google has built and tested self flying drones designed to deliver packages.
Called Project Wing, it is being developed at Google X, the company's secret research lab, which is also developing its self-driving car and Glass wearable computer.
The firm says the drones could eventually be used for disaster relief by delivering aid to isolated areas - and for package delivery.
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Google has already tested the drone delivery system in Australia
Project Wing's aircraft have a wingspan of approximately 1.5m (4.9ft) and have four electrically-driven propellers.
They will fly a programmed route with just the push of a button, and they'll follow rules to respond safely if they run into unexpected situations like a gust of wind, Google says.
The project was originally envisaged by Google boss Sergey Brin as a way to deliver defibrillators to heart attack victims, but has since been expanded.
'Even just a few of these, being able to shuttle nearly continuously could service a very large number of people in an emergency situation,' Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots - Google X's name for big-thinking projects, told the BBC.
HOW IT WORKS
Project Wing's aircraft have a wingspan of approximately 1.5m (4.9ft) and have four electrically-driven propellers.
The total weight, including the package to be delivered, is approximately 10kg (22lb).
The aircraft itself accounts for the bulk of that at 8.5kg (18.7lb).
The hybrid 'tail sitter' design has wings for fast forward flight, and rotors for hovering for delivery and vertical take-off and landing.
Dual mode operation gives the self-flying vehicle some of the benefits of both planes and helicopters.
It can take off or land without a runway, and can hold its position hovering in one spot to gently drop packages.
Packages are stored in the drone's 'belly' then dropped on a string before being gently lowered to the ground.
At the end of the tether, there's a little bundle of electronics the team call the 'egg,' which detects that the package has hit the ground, detaches from the delivery, and is pulled back up into the body of the vehicle.
'We expect it will take years to develop a service with multiple vehicles flying multiple deliveries per day,' Google said.
Eventually Google said it could use unmanned flying vehicles to deliver shopping items to consumers at home.
'Self-flying vehicles could open up entirely new approaches to moving goods – including options that are cheaper, faster, less wasteful and more environmentally sensitive than what's possible today,' the firm said.
'Throughout history, major shifts in how we move goods from place to place have led to new opportunities for economic growth and generally made consumers' lives easier.
'From steam ships to the railroads, from the postal service to delivery services like FedEx and DHL, speed has reshaped society not only with greater convenience but also by making more goods accessible to more people.
'Furthermore, there's a lot of friction in how we do things currently – double-parked delivery trucks clog city streets, traffic jams choke the fast-growing cities of Africa and Asia.
And have you ever thought about how environmentally unfriendly it is to send a 2000kg car across town with a 2kg package of food?'
The prototype vehicles that the company has built have successfully been tested by delivering packages to remote farms in Queensland, Australia from neighbouring properties.
Australia was selected as a test site due to what Google calls 'progressive' rules about the use of drones, which are more tightly controlled in other parts of the word.
The prototype vehicles that the company has built have successfully been tested by delivering packages to remote farms in Queensland, Australia from neighbouring properties.
The total weight, including the package to be delivered, is approximately 10kg (22lb).
The aircraft itself accounts for the bulk of that at 8.5kg (18.7lb).
Hybrid design has wings for fast forward flight, and rotors for hovering for delivery and vertical take-off and landing.
Dual mode operation gives the self-flying vehicle some of the benefits of both planes and helicopters.
It can take off or land without a runway, and can hold its position hovering in one spot to gently drop packages.
The drones could compete with Amazon's Prime Air plans.
Amazon is asking the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to use drones as part of its plan to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less.
The online retailer created a media frenzy in December when it outlined a plan on CBS' 60 Minutes to deliver packages with self-guided aircrafts that seemed straight out of science fiction.
The aircraft can travel at more than 50mph and carry loads of up to 5 pounds. About 86 percent of Amazon's deliveries are 5 pounds or less, the company said.
'We believe customers will love it, and we are committed to making Prime Air available to customers worldwide as soon as we are permitted to do so,' Amazon said.
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