For the moment, Google only is experimenting with its prototype craft in Australia. | Google image | Courtesy Google gets into game of drones

Google long ago embarked on the road to self-driving cars — and now the company is turning its ambitions to the skies with drones.

The top secret Google[x] research lab announced Thursday it is investing in and testing unmanned aerial vehicles — an endeavor called Project Wing — that someday might deliver packages to consumers. The gambit puts Google in a growing camp of companies like Amazon and Facebook, which increasingly are sponsoring their own research — or trying to buy their way — into the emerging drone market.


For the moment, Google only is experimenting with its prototype craft in Australia, not the United States. It has hired Dave Vos, a well-known aerial technology expert, to lead its drone team. And it’s only the beginning of the journey: Google now must navigate a host of technology challenges in the lab – and a thicket of regulatory hurdles in Washington – if it really wants its new drones to take flight worldwide.

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“Self-flying vehicles could open up entirely new approaches to moving goods – including options that are cheaper, faster, less wasteful and more environmentally sensitive than what’s possible today,” according to the company’s research team.

But Google cautioned it would “take years to develop a service with multiple vehicles flying multiple deliveries every day.”

The company flashed its interest in drone technology in April when it purchased Titan Aerospace, a firm that makes solar-powered craft. But Google is hardly alone with its drone ambitions.

Facebook vied for the very firm Google ultimately bought and has tasked its Connectivity Lab to research drones and other tools that might help it expand Internet access to unserved areas globally. Amazon, meanwhile, raised eyebrows last year when CEO Jeff Bezos revealed on “60 Minutes” that his e-commerce titan has been testing package-delivering drones.

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Google’s research team began thinking about automating small, flying vehicles as far back as 2011. After years of research and work to hone its mission, the company began testing Project Wing craft in August 2014. For its experiment, Google said it delivered candy bars and radios to local farmers in Queensland, Australia.

Much further down the line, the hope is that Project Wing can “fly a programmed route with just a push of a button,” while also automatically following local safety rules and adapting to wind conditions.

Google likely has opted to test its prototype in Australia because of the country’s historically relaxed drone regulations. The company declined to comment Thursday as to whether it would seek to test its drones in the United States, where federal rules are more strict. For the moment, operators of all unmanned aerial vehicles in the United States must first obtain permission from the Federal Aviation Administration – a regulatory hurdle that prompted Amazon earlier this year to hire lobbyists focused on the issue.

Google did not indicate Thursday whether it would add drones to its regulatory wish list in the nation’s capital. But one of its outside lobbying hires – Gephardt Group Government Affairs – has spoken this year with FAA officials generally about unspecified “aviation safety” issues.

Drones mark only the latest endeavor at the highly guarded Google[x] lab, which has pioneered research into glucose-delivering contact lenses and wireless Internet-broadcasting balloons, as well as the company’s self-driving car. Before Google could test its early, laser-mounted Prius, though, the company had to lobby individual states’ legislatures for permission. In Washington, meanwhile, Google has committed some of its $8.8 million lobbying tab toward warding off any new federal restrictions on its autonomous vehicles, according to its 2014 disclosures.

Privacy hawks often question Google’s latest innovations, and many consumer groups have been especially uneasy at the fast proliferation of drone technology. The news of Amazon’s package-delivering drone drew a sharp statement last year from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who urged the FAA to step in first and “deliver privacy protections for the American public.” While Congress is unlikely to advance drone-privacy legislation this year, President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order soon that begins a process to create industry best practices.

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