Google Drones Likely To Deliver Packages In 2017

Few days back Google’s Project Wing – the home delivery drone program, came in the limelight after being caught on camera showing it hovering and lowering a package to the floor.

Now once again Alphabet Inc, the new parent company of Google, has drawn attention to the drone project with Davis Vos, the leader for Alphabet's Project Wing, saying that the company expects to start delivering packages to customers via drones sometime in 2017, Reuters reported.

"Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017," he told an audience at an air traffic control convention near Washington.

Vos also mentioned that his company is in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other stakeholders regarding setting up of an air traffic control system for drones that would use cellular and Internet technology to coordinate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights at altitudes under 500 feet (152 meters), Reuters said.

Vos, who is co-chair of an FAA task force working on a drone registry system, said a system for identifying drone operators and keeping UAV clear of other aircraft could be set up within 12 months. He said Google would like to see low altitude "Class G" airspace defined for this purpose [drones], while facilitating drones to fly over highly populated areas, as reported by Reuters.

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