The Federal Aviation Administration still hasn't laid down guidelines for drones, but that isn't going to stop Google.
On Monday, Google announced intentions to begin drone package deliveries in 2017. According to Reuters, the tech giant is in talks with the FAA about using cellular and Internet technology to chart unmanned drones under 500 feet as part of a new air-traffic control system for the machines. Such a system could also possibly prevent them from crashing in places they're not supposed to be in or even go towards preventing drones from hovering over certain areas, altogether.
Anyhow, Google hopes to be making its drone deliveries in over a year.
"Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017," David Vos, the head of Google's Project Wing drone effort, told an audience during an air-traffic control convention near Washington, as reported by Reuters.
Although it's an aggressive time frame, Vos's presence certainly helps. In addition to leading Google's Project Wing, he's also co-chair of an FAA task force, trying to create a drone registry to identify drone operators and keep the vehicles in clear distance of other aircrafts. If the drone registry is in place by December 20, as targeted by President Obama's administration, it could mark the first step to drone regulation.
"We're pretty much on a campaign here, working with the FAA, working with the small UAV community and the aviation community at large, to move things along," Vos added.
As part of Project Wing, Google has tested its prototype drones in Australia and has even collaborated with NASA on testing in the United States.
In addition to Google, Amazon has also tested drone package deliveries.
