The U.S. Transportation Department's 10 winning drone pilot projects aimed at spurring the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in a wide variety of fields do not include Amazon or China's DJI, but do involve Alphabet, Qualcomm and Microsoft. Apple is also involved in the project through a partnership with the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Virginia Tech, one of the winners, said that Alphabet's Project Wing, AT&T, Intel, Airbus and Dominion Energy are among the partners for its pilot program that will explore package delivery, emergency management and infrastructure inspection.

A spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, another winner, said Apple Is among its partners, and Apple said it plans to use the testing program to improve Apple Maps by capturing aerial images.

"Apple is committed to protecting people's privacy, including processing this data to blur faces and license plates prior to publication," the company said.

Microsoft is among the partners for a Kansas project, while Qualcomm is joining a winning bid from the City of San Diego to test a wide range of public safety, commercial and emergency response applications.

Amazon, which hopes to one day deliver packages with a fleet of drones, said it was unfortunate its applications were not selected but supports the U.S. efforts.

"We're focused on developing a safe operating model for drones in the airspace and we will continue our work to make this a reality, said Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy.

China's DJI said it submitted about a dozen applications.

"We congratulate the winners and will be happy to work with any of them with hardware, software or technical assistance to help these exciting ideas come to life," said Adam Lisberg, spokesman for the world's largest maker of non-military drones.