Google Spinoff Launches Drone Delivery Service in Australia

While Amazon’s drone delivery service is currently stuck in legislative hell, Google parent company Alphabet launched its own version in North Canberra, Australia.

Google spinoff Wing demoed their drone delivery service for 18 months in Canberra, making 2,000+ deliveries, with a 93% customer satisfaction rating and record conveyance of 2:43 from start to finish.

So far, Wing plans to move food, over-the-counter chemist items, and locally-made coffee and chocolate, which is great news for the 13,000 disabled and 6,700 elderly people living in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), an area which includes the capital city of Canberra.

The company projects that, by 2030, drone delivery could reduce traffic in the ACT by 35 million vehicle kilometres per year, and given that “road transportation accounts for 69% of the ACT’s greenhouse gas emissions,” this is a neat green alternative.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the FAA wants to confine Amazon Prime Air to a flight ceiling of 400 feet and top speed of 100 mph, and the drones must remain within the pilot's line of sight. Amazon wants to fly its drones within a 10 mi radius of its warehouses, so that last directive could be a problem.

Of course, the Wing trial wasn’t without its speed bumps – residents complained about noise pollution, but at least they didn’t shoot down the drones with birdshot (‘merica!).

Wing plans to expand service across Australia, before moving on to Europe (starting with Helsinki).

Read more here: https://www.cnet.com/news/googles-wing-drones-are-now-delivering-gelato-in-australia/