More than 2000 residents of Browns Plains suburb suffered from electricity outage after a food delivery drone, which is operated by Wing, crashed into power lines in Brisbane, Australia. The incident happened on Thursday, September 29.
Wing is a sister company of Google and a subsidiary of the Alphabet. According to Tech Times, the drone was attempting a "precautionary controlled landing" but came to rest on an overhead power lines.
Wing Apologizes to Those Affected by the Incident
After crashing into power lines with around 11,000 volts of electricity, the drone caught fire. Because of this, electricity company Energex had to shut down its network causing wide power outage in Browns Plains suburb.
According to Digital Trends, the power outage was not immediately caused by the crash. It was actually the decision of Energex to switch off the power supply in order to check the damage caused by the incident.
The incident was immediately reported by Wing to Energex. The outage caused by the incident lasted for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, about 300 residents in the immediate vicinity suffered three hours of power outage.
Danny Donald, a spokesperson from utility provider Energex said "We immediately reported this to Energex, who attended the location. Two hours later, during the retrieval process, there was a power outage in the area."
According to Donald, they didn't necessarily have to get the drone off because it caught fire and incinerated itself. Afterwards, it fell to the ground.
Wing issued an apology for any inconvenience caused by the crashing of its drone. According to the company, they are reviewing the incident to know how the drone that was supposed to make a delivery ended up crashing in a power line.
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Wing Has Been Successfully Making Deliveries in Australia
According to Gizmodo, while the crashing of drone on the power lines did not cause any permanent damage, Donald reminded people who are operating drones to be cautious around power lines.
In 2019, Wing obtained the approval deliver food and medicine in Australia using their autonomous drone. The service has become quite popular among the residents since it started.
At the first eight months of 2021, Alphabet-owned company made more than 50,000 deliveries in Queensland. The drone delivery of Wing was recently made available in Dallas as well.
Since its launch in 2019, the company has been successfully making deliveries in most suburban parts of Australia. Drones of Wing have been delivering food, beverages, and other small products in just around 10 minutes.
The drone delivery service of Wing can be currently availed in three countries, including the US, Finland, and Australia.
Since Wing fostered partnership with local businesses, select customers can use their smartphones to place orders that will be delivered via drone delivery service.
Once orders were made, a drone carrying the items will be sent to the customer's address. The orders will be lowered down on a tether into their place.
Wing sees drone as a convenient way to bring smaller items to customer. In addition to having fewer emissions, it's a faster mode of delivery compare to road-based ones.
Related Article: Alphabet's Wing Set to Begin Drone Deliveries on April 7 - Where Will It Be?
