Wing, owned by Google's parent company, receives first drone delivery approval in U.S.
Millions of drones buzzing through the air, delivering groceries you need to make dinner, the medicine you forgot to pick up from the pharmacy or even a hot cup of coffee.
For some, it is inevitable, effective future. For others, it may sound more like the start of a dystopic horror story.
Anyway, it is now closer to reality. The Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday that Wing, the drone delivery unit of Google's parent company, Alphabet, had received the agency's first approval to use drones to carry and deliver packages commercially.
Wing had previously tested their drones in a suburb of Canberra, Australia, where the machines had produced more than 3,000 deliveries, partly to demonstrate drone's security and obtain FAA approval, the company said.
There will be restrictions on US efforts. Drone supplies will be limited to parts of southwest Virginia, where Wing is already part of a F.A.A. pilot program that looks at how to integrate drones with society. The exact places are still crucial.
The drones can only be operated during the day when the weather is clear enough for them to be seen, said Greg Martin, a F.A.A. spokesman.
They can't fly over 400 feet (aircraft and helicopters usually fly over 500 feet). A drone pilot can remotely fly up to five machines, but it is not clear if there is a hard cap on the total number of drones allowed in the sky at one time.
Even with the restrictions, the drone's backers portrayed the FAA & # 39; s approval, called an airline certification, such as game change, especially since regulations, technology, and public aversion have reduced the progress of drone-delivery initiatives.
"From our perspective, it is more to treat drones as manned aviation," says Mark Blanks, director of the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, one of the organizations involved in the pilot program. "This achievement is tremendous, and I think there is a preview of the future of where this is heading." "interview in 2013 that drone deliveries can become common within five years.
It failed to materialize. But globally, drones are increasingly used in different ways.
In the United States, they have been used for emergency response, surveillance and aerial photography.
Jonathan Bass, a spokesman for wings, said deliveries in Virginia would start later this year, even though he did not have a specific date. What the drones will actually deliver is still being decided, but the company said it would focus on goods from local businesses.
Wing said it would seek input from community leaders in the next few months on how to best implement the program.
When a Wing drone delivers, it swings about 20 meters and lowers the package onto a hook. Customers can choose what they want delivered to an app.
In Canberra, where Wing has done most of its tests, one of the most common products was delivered coffee, Bass said. Drones also delivered ice cream, medicine, food and, in one case, mascara to a beauty treatment that had run out while making a makeover.
"There are many interesting uses, something we wouldn't have expected," said Mr. Bass.
Herr. Bass said the use of the drones is "safer than getting in the car and picking something up, it's better for the environment, it's faster."
"Personally, I like to cook a lot," he added. "I can't count the number of times I get to the end of a recipe and realize I'm missing an ingredient. Having it delivered directly to my backyard or front door will be extremely valuable."
Not everyone has taken the idea of drones. A survey by the Pew Research Center in December 2017 showed that 54 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with drones flying close to home, 11 percent supported drones flying in these areas, and 34 percent favored limits to such use.
There are also questions about the economy and whether consumers will pay extra costs for having small and light items delivered by drone.
James Burgess, Vings Managing Director, told The New York Times in March that "the scale does not concern us right now." [19659002] "We believe that we will ultimately be able to develop a community delivery service that allows them to transport goods in just a few minutes at low cost," he said.
