After several years of development, Google has just inaugurated a drone delivery service in Australia via its subsidiary Wing.

 Initially, the offer will be limited to one hundred eligible residences in several cities in the suburbs of Canberra: Crace, Palmerston, and Franklin. Google plans to expand the service to the cities of Harrison and Gungahlin in the coming months.

Customers will be able to order products from their smartphone on the mobile application Wing. For the moment, the choice of food is limited to snacks, medicines, and groceries. the drones can carry packages up to 1.5 kg.

It was in August 2014 that Google unveiled its delivery drone project that it began testing in Australia. Since then, the design of drones has evolved significantly compared to the initial prototype.

 The new models have fixed wings with propellers to fly horizontally like an airplane, as well as 12 rotors for vertical takeoffs and landings and hovering during delivery.

The parcel is hooked to a bunny and travels under the belly of the device. Arrived at its delivery point, the drone hovers seven meters above the ground and drops the package with a motorized winch. Once the package on the ground, the grapple is released and the drone can restart.

Navigation is autonomous but professional remote pilots monitor the flight continuously and can regain control at any time. Speed is one of the arguments put forward by Wing that the shortest command took just 2 minutes 43 seconds between validation and delivery to the customer.

Wing has reduced the noise of its drones

In the last 18 months, Wing has delivered more than 3,000 deliveries in different neighborhoods and has already learned several interesting lessons from user feedback.

 Starting with the noise generated by drones that were, it seems, disturbing. ”  Our drones are quieter than a range of typical noises in a suburb, but they produce a unique sound that people probably do not know,” says Wing.

The company has developed new propellers, quieter, and produce a more serious sound. On the other hand, the flight speed has been reduced to lower the noise level and the UAV routes have been modified.

The other issue that has probably raised questions among users is the presence of a camera on the drone and its exact use.

Wing states that his aircraft actually have a fixed camera that is “exclusively” for emergency navigation in the event of an error or failure of the GPS.

The lens is pointed down, the images are in the gray level and are not accessible in real time. ”  In practice, people who do not use our service will not be recognizable on an image while our drone flies to its delivery destination “, Assures the subsidiary of Google adding that access to these images is limited to a small number of engineers and that it is” verified “.

After Australia, the service will be launched during the spring in Finland in the Helsinki region.