At the end of last year, Amazon announced it was working on an autonomous delivery drone service called Prime Air. Now it seems another internet giant has high ambitions too. The Atlantic just revealed that Google's moonshot program, Google X, has been secretly hard at work developing its own prototype delivery drone technology known as Project Wing.
This last month, around 30 tests were conducted in Queensland, Australia. The team has successfully delivered a first aid kit, candy bars, dog treats, and water to a couple of farmers.
“We’re only just beginning to develop the technology to make a safe delivery system possible, but we think that there’s tremendous potential to transport goods more quickly, safely and efficiently,” Google said.
Because logistics physically connects people, products and places, these incredible advances in technology could become seriously disruptive forces. Companies are moving quickly and developing these functional systems even ahead of the FAA's expected regulatory framework. Should be an interesting ride.