Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, might spearhead an innovation of drone-delivered food. Its drones are set to deliver burritos to Virgina Tech thru the air. Test deliveries will start this month.
Drone-delivered Burritos
Alphabet Inc., Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Virginia Tech will work together in this said project. It has already been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Project Wing, a unit of Alphabet, will use drones to deliver food from a Chipotle food truck to a small number of staff and students at Virginia Tech, according to the Wall Street Journal. The self-guided hybrids can fly like a plane and hover like a helicopter. The food will be lowered with a winch, according to Bloomberg.
Project Wing will be the one to evaluate the response of the people. They will also look into the accuracy of the drones' navigation systems. Though human pilots will still be needed to monitor the drones according to Dave Vos, the head of Project Wing. This is to ensure that they will not break FAA rules. Apparently, drones are not allowed by FAA to fly over people.
Hurdles And Benefits of Drone Delivery
Vos mentioned that they need to work with National Aeronautics and Space Administration. They have to develop the framework of a low-level air-traffic system. This system will be used to maintain order in the skies. It will also help to avoid on-air drone collisions. He admitted that this hurdle of drone deliveries can't be assessed yet by this experiment.
He added that FAA will be able to access the data from the said tests. This will serve as the basis for new rules in drone deliveries. If this kind of delivery will pursue, it might help be beneficial to the environment. Carbon emissions will be reduced. Depending on the response of the subjects in these tests, it may also bring innovation to the economy.
