Description

Google X Project Wing is essentially a drone based delivery system, created by Google.

It’s original plan for Project Wing was to “deliver defibrillators to heart attack sufferers within two minutes of the initial attack.” Google ran into certain technical issues with USA’s 911 and emergency service systems, so this idea that they hand in mind quickly disintegrated. Google has yet to find a specific use for Project Wing but Google has stated that it has shifted focus to the “general problem of same day deliveries, disaster relief, and delivering to places that same and next day couriers may not reach."

X + Dave Vos

X is the research and development department of google that is in charge of developing this technological service. Dave Vos is an Aerospace Veteran who is leading Project Wing. He reportedly stated that “Google’s goal is to have commercial business up and running by 2017."

Design

Google has opted for a “tail-sitter” design, which means it takes off and lands on it’s tail, but it flies horizontally. Project Wing has four motors, a wingspan of five feet and it weighs a total of 19 lbs, with a max payload of 3 lbs. Project Wing is also “built in with radios and sensors for autonomous flight, but also has a camera that can be used by a remote pilots drops are made in a sensible location." These drops that are made however are made from altitude due to safety reasons.

Future

Statement about the future use of the technology

The technology could be used for a wide array of things. They could be commercialized and used for delivery of goods to both private and enterprise customers, inspecting cell phone towers and even to inspect crops on farmers’ fields.

Barriers

A barrier to entry into this business would the ridiculously high cost of research, development and building the drones. It’ll be hard for a new company/start up in particular to match the quality of work put in by Google into the project as they definitely would not have the financial resources and political pull that Google does.

Lengthy, rigorous and unclear regulations and requirements imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration could be a road block to the commercialization; which is Google’s main objective. The FAA has cited that the drones must be controlled by licensed pilots, which will make it terribly expensive for companies that aren’t as financially healthy as Google to implement as pilots do not come cheap.

Prevalence

How prevalent will the technology become?

It could be prevalent in certain industries in the future; ones that don’t involve the drones flying around in urban and populated areas. This is due to the current heap of regulations and restrictions imposed by the FAA. The future could see farmers adopt the technology in droves, to help inspect their crops across a large expanse of land. Movie makers might also use them for filming and effects purposes.

Examples

There are various companies that currently use drones for different purpose. However, the most drones are tested by UK since US regulation has currently forbidden to do any of delivery services. First, here are companies that are using drones as delivery purpose. Google which is the one of the biggest company for drone, has created Project Wings and aiming to give service on delivery product across city by flying vehicles. Similar to Google Company, Amazon created drone called “Amazon Prime Air” earlier than Google. Amazon planned to use drones for product deliveries since 2013, drone itself weigh 55 lbs and carry up to 5lbs. According to current events in “technology review”, Amazon Prime Air first tested in UK and will eventually get the first drone deliveries. As well as in Asda’s parent company in Walmart, they have received drone licenses since last year (2015) to deliver shopping products through drones. However, since applications are made in US, it takes more time for UK customers to receive products through sky delivery. The most interesting company is 7-Eleven. Not Amazon, not Google, but 7-Eleven is going to be first home delivery by drone in United States. Tests have been made in Nevada in United States and 10,800 stores in North America could deliver if tests goes on right way. As result, customers would be able to enjoy Slurpee, sandwich, donuts and coffees at home.

On the other hand, there are few companies that are using drone for other purposes. One of multinational telecommunications corporation AT&T also uses drones to inspect cell towers in order to improve LTE coverage. They have been testing drones for long period to improve network. Not only the AT&T is the one using drones for deliver internet access. Both Facebook and Google are testing to increase internet coverage that has lack of network infrastructure. Lastly, Devon and Cornwall police in UK uses drones fitted with HD cameras to find missing people/monitor accidents and crime scene. Since there is limit to chase the suspects in a high speed in road, during busy traffic situation, flying drones could easily tail drive by thieves. Also it would save lives as well as police costs and time.

Advantages+Benefits

Advantages

       

Google’s drone system has advantages relating to its production and use. First, Dave Vos mentions two competitor drones, L-3 Aviation Products and FreeFlight, that have priced their products at $2000. However, Vos wishes to reduce that price giving Google an advantage over their competition. Jonathan Vanian, an author of Fortune magazine, mentions “Drone sales are expected to grow from $2.5 million to $7 million by 2020” (Vanian, 2016). This is a huge advantage for Google because this will increase their sale revenue. Lastly, implementing drones for commercial use will lower risk. This is due to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulating the drone’s altitude of flight to a maximum 400 feet.

Benefits

Along with advantages, comes benefits. The most prominent benefit of the drone is that there will be less collisions with other aircrafts. This is mainly caused by the FAA’s rule against flying the drone to high, limiting the maximum altitude to 400 feet. Another benefit is a greater revenue and profit to Google. This is a direct effect of potential increased sales. Higher sales will have a greater return or revenue, and because of the higher revenue, profit will rise as well.

Disadvantages+Costs

Disadvantages

Every product has its disadvantages. Project Wing’s main disadvantage is the prohibition of drone delivery by the FAA (Seitz, 2016). Because Google is attempting to use these drones mainly for delivery, this will have a major effect on their expected release, which is 2017 (Bergen, 2015). Also, there are many other companies that are attempting to implement this technology. For instance, Amazon, Walmart, Facebook, AT&T and many more. Moreover, the FAA has some regulations of operating these drones. The two major rules are requirement of certificate in order to operate drones and only being able to fly during the day and in the operator’s line of sight.

Costs

First off, the rules and regulations created by the FAA will have a major effect on the operation and use of this aircraft. This will then cause a few costs to come about. The high competition may cause a decrease in sales revenue in the short run and therefore decrease profits in the long run. Also, the rule of only being able to fly during the day will affect the delivery time. However, delivery may not even be possible in the future because of the FAA prohibiting drone delivery for the time being.