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 The effort, which Google calls Project Wing, marks the company's
latest expansion beyond its Web-based origins and could help Google
break into lucrative markets such as commerce and package delivery,
ratcheting up the competition with Amazon.com Inc.
Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, said it will
take years of development to create a service with multiple vehicles
flying multiple deliveries per day.
An early version of the drone, which Google showcased in a video on
its website, has a 1.5 meter-(yard-)wide wingspan and is capable of
flying pre-programmed routes.
"These planes have much more in common with the Google
self-driving car than the remote-controlled airplanes people
fly in parks on weekends," Google said on its website, referring to
the company's test fleet of automobiles that use sensors and radars
to navigate city streets and freeways on their own.
The drone Google showed in the video Thursday was equipped with
rotors to allow for vertical takeoff and landing, as well as a fixed
wing for plane-like flying. The drone flew about 40 meters above the
treeline, Google said, and dropped a package of chocolate bars to a
farmer in Queensland, Australia.
Google spokesman Ray Gobberg said it was too soon to discuss
specific business plans for the delivery drones, but the company
said on its website that self-flying vehicles could offer a cheaper,
faster and less wasteful way to move goods.
Google rival Amazon.com Inc announced plans last year to use aerial
delivery drones for a service called "Prime Air."
"Local delivery of products is the next battlefront," said Sameet
Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley & Co. "Google has had its eyes on
e-commerce, basically trying to get around Amazon."
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Google has partnered with local retailers in San Francisco, Los
Angeles and New York for its Shopping Express service, which allows
consumers to order goods online and have them delivered to their
doorstep on the same day.
While Google has been quietly developing its aerial drone project
since late 2011, the company will now focus on teaching the vehicles
to safely navigate around each other, to reduce the noise of the
vehicles and to refine the delivery capability such that a package
can be delivered to a spot the size of a doorstep.
Google's Gobberg said the company has briefed the Federal Aviation
Administration on the project and has been updating the agency.
Gobberg said Google has done some "small scale research flights" in
the United States but hoped to talk more with the agency to
determine specific locations for testing.
In 2012, Congress required the FAA to establish a road map for the
broader use of drones. The FAA has allowed limited use of drones in
the United States for surveillance, law enforcement, atmospheric
research and other applications.
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Grant McCool and Ken
Wills)
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