Google's secretive drone delivery project just got cleared for testing - here's everything we know about the program
Google X has been working on Project Wing since 2012, but was only unveiled to the public in August 2014.
Google is using five-foot, single wing drones capable of hovering thousands of feet in the air. The drones can take off vertically.
Source: Tech Insider
The drones would lower packages to the ground using a winch. A patent filed October 2014 outlines how robots on wheels could then take these packages and deliver them to a safe holding location.
The ground robots will be notified of an upcoming delivery and will travel on wheels to the given location to receive the package. You can read more about how that system could work here.
But that drone design may not be permanent. Astro Teller, the director of Google X, said that Project Wing scrapped the initial drone design because it was too difficult to control in March 2015.
"It didn't hover well in high winds and its cargo shifted too much when the wing moved up and down," he told The Wall Street Journal at the time.
But we do know the drones will be equipped with tiny, inexpensive radio transponders that can mark their location to other aircrafts and to controllers on the ground.
Even though Google X just got approval to test its drones, it has reportedly been testing in the US by skirting regulations via a NASA waiver.
Source: Engadget
But Google X has also been testing the drones in Queensland, Australia, and successfully delivered a first aid kit, candy bars, dog treats, and water to farmers in 2014.
Source: Project Wing
David Vos, the leader of Project Wing, said Google X wants to use drones to deliver packages starting in 2017.
"Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017," he said during an air traffic control convention in 2015.
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