While Amazon's Prime Air drones are being developed for commercial reasons, Google's looking to launch its autonomous aerial vehicles to provide humanitarian aid. "Even just a few of these, being able to shuttle nearly continuously could service a very large number of people in an emergency situation," says Astro Teller, Google X top brass.
Project Wing, as reported by the BBC, was initially developed with the goal of delivering defibrillator kits to people suffering heart attacks, since nippy sky-droids can outpace an ambulance at rush-hour. Google's Wing drones are sizeable fliers, touting a 1.5m wingspan and four 'leccy powered propellers, and weigh in at a hefty 10kg.
Google says its managed to successfully deliver packages to 'remote farms in Queensland, Australia' from nearby locations, as part of the test phase. The firm took to Australia for its trials due to their relaxed and 'progressive' drone legislation, compared to the iffy FAA rules that deal with drones on US soil.
Back in July, Amazon requested permission from the FAA for outdoor testing in America, as part of their push for faster deliveries.
