In Australia, Alphabet is trialing their “Project Wing” drone delivery system. First tests included delivering medicine and fast food to rural areas.

Not only Amazon, but also Google’s parent company Alphabet has been researching drones and it’s applications for several years. Right now, the “Project Wing” delivery drone is offering Australians who live rurally the chance to have things delivered to their homes or offices.

Alphabet is working with Mexican food chain, Guzman y Gomez, and pharmacy chain, Chemist Warehouse. This means rural Australians have been receiving Mexican food and meds by drone.

Drones fly to the correct loading site before traveling to rural homes and making a drop-off. However, currently, it’s only those living in the southeast of Australia who can benefit from this trial.

“Our testers, including young families, busy professionals, and retirees, had many suggestions for how our technology could address this fundamental inconvenience… They wanted fresh meals delivered at dinner time. Some who run small businesses at home wanted to be able to send customer orders from their doorstep. A few with farms wanted supplies to arrive at their paddocks, or spare parts delivered to the ailing vehicle on their property. Almost all said that they’d value having medicine delivered to their door, especially when they’re unwell,” said James Ryan Burgess, co-lead of Project Wing, in a blog post.

Never Leave Home Again

UAV has a wingspan of about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) and weighs around 8.5 kg (18.7 Ib). The drones have both propellers and wings. The nose is equipped a GPS system, the tail with a backwards facing camera. These enable them to hover over a backyard or residential home and drop off supplies with a tether. Testers have included teachers, alpaca farmers, artists, equestrians, and a few confused kangaroos.

Last year, the company trialed Project Wing with students from Virginia Tech. However, home deliveries were not an option and students had to find an open field to receive their package. Drone safety regulations aren’t as strict in Australia than America, so the trial moved south.

During the Project Wing trial, the company is learning about the items that people want. However, they’re also improving on the drone’s mapping and sensor technology. Avoiding obstacles, from trees to sheds, is an important part of landing.

“The more test deliveries we do, exposing the sensors on our aircraft to new delivery locations, the smarter our aircraft’s algorithms will one day become at picking a safe spot for deliveries,” Burgess said.

Drone deliveries may be the ultimate hermit, or lazy student, dream. But, unless you’re living rurally in southeast Australia, it doesn’t look like you’ll benefit from this technology anytime soon.

Source: Digital Trends