According to reports from Bloomberg, Alphabet is entering into a collaboration with Chipotle for food delivery. This is not your ordinary home delivery. The company will deploy drones, remote-controlled aircraft with both flying and hovering capabilities. This is how it works. The drone picks a package from the fast food outlet. It then flies to a designated location, hovers above before slowly lowering the package to the recipient.
This is how it works, the drone picks up a package from the fast food outlet. It then flies to a designated location, hovers above before slowly lowering the package to the recipient.
For starters, Alphabet intends to carry out trial runs targeting Virginia Tech students and a few employees. These tests will commence in September and proceed for several weeks. Dubbed Project Wing will utilize a supply truck from Chipotle. Upon picking a package, the drone hovers over the drop off point and lowers it with the help of a winch.
Dave Vos, head of the project praised Virginia Tech for the initiative. He added that through this collaboration, the team would get more insights on how delivery systems work. Moreover, Project Wing will shed light on future deployment of aerial fast food delivery.
During the test runs, there will be checks to ensure that the packaging is intact. Also, project facilitators will safeguard the food. The food needs to stay warm the entire time. Vos stated that for future deployment, the team intended to use a more advanced drone.
Tim Sands, the President of Virginia Tech talked of how he jokingly foresaw the use of quadcopters to deliver ramen noodles within the facility. He reckoned that he was not too far from the truth.
Sands added that through innovative collaborations, the results are akin to what was set to take place. He was optimistic that new ventures were in the offing that would boost the economy of Virginia. Moreover, these partnerships would equip students with essential skills.
Alphabet is the parent company that owns Google. Project Wing is first among intended tests that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has approved in recent times. The government had hitherto placed harsh rules on drone tests for food deliveries. Alphabet had carried out a similar trial in Australia.
