Google/Alphabet reportedly testing delivery drones in deal with Nasa
Google has been quietly running drone delivery tests in US airspace for more than a year after striking a deal with Nasa, according to a report published in the Guardian. As previously reported, companies looking to use drones for commercial purposes in US airspace require special permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, in an article published on Wednesday (12 August) the Guardian claimed that Google has been operating its drones over private land in California under Nasa’s Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA).
The Guardian said that both Nasa and Google declined to comment on the reports of their collaboration, but the newspaper claimed that it had obtained a Space Act Agreement that stated: “Nasa and Google will conduct joint field tests of UASs … where Nasa may issue certificates of approvals to operate.”
The newspaper also claimed that it had seen documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week which showed that Google wants conduct six-months’ worth of new trials to see whether cellphone signals can be used by low-flying drones for automatic air traffic control.
As is often the case with reports about drones, it is not easy to verify the facts on this story. The situation was complicated still further because on Monday (10 August), Google CEO Larry Page announced the creation of a new entity, Alphabet, which will be the parent company of Google. However, some of the more “futuristic” parts of the company will spun out of the Google universe and be linked directly to Alphabet. X lab, which incubates new efforts like Wing, the drone delivery programme, is one of those parts.
