Google Beats Amazon In Launching Drone Delivery Services

A startup from Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has just received approval for one of the first drone deliveries in the world. Wing, which became its own company last year, is planning to introduce its first commercial drone delivery service in Canberra, Australia.

On April 9, in a blog post, the company confirmed its move after it received approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia. A spokesman from CASA also confirmed that with this approval, Wing’s delivery service would “very likely” become a world first.

Wing has been trialing its Canberra project for around 18 months with 3,000 deliveries completed. During its launching time, the service will be available to 100 homes around Canberra before it is expanded gradually.

So, how does Wing work? It allows users to order via an app and within minutes deliveries would be made by drones. Delivery items include medicine, ice cream, coffee, and fresh food.

The blog post read:

The pilot ended without any safety incident but not without drawbacks. ABC News of Australia reported that several citizens in the area had complained about the drones’ noise. One local said, “With the windows closed, even with double glazing, you can hear the drones.”

According to CASA, Wing’s drone delivery service is required to follow safety rules, which include:

- Drones can fly over homes and streets but not “main arterial roads.”

- When making deliveries, the distance between drones and people can be 5 meters directly above and 2 meters for horizontally above.

- Flights are prohibited before 7 a.m. from Monday to Saturday and before 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Those who are eligible for the delivery service will have a safety briefing on not moving near the drones.

The spokesman then added:

The launch of Wing in Australia proves that it has surpassed Amazon in this particular field. CEO Jeff Bezos once claimed that the company’s commercial drone delivery service by 2018, yet it is still not ready despite testing.

Wing is planning to expand to Europe. Since December, the company has been testing its service in Helsinki. It explains choosing Finland as a testing location simply because Finnish people are famous for being new technologies' early-adopters of.