Virginia Tech has embraced the hype of utilizing drones as these winged-objects are currently being to deliver burritos across the campus.
Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. has announced its collaboration with Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. to deliver burritos across the school campus. The experimental service is part of Alphabet's "Project Wing," which begins this month and would last for just about a week.
The "Project Wing" venture was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It is considered the most extensive drone testing venture in the United States. Big companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have expressed their excitement about the project as they anticipate the future of service deliveries in the country.
Jacob Demmit of the Ranaoke Times was able to capture a footage of one of these drones delivering a package containing someone's lunch. The clip featured the drone descending to about 10 feet and hovered toward a grass patch before lowering the package by string to the middle of a field. Moments later, the drone flew away and a person came to retrieve the burrito left on the ground.
Demmit added that the process was repeated about 10 times in a span of 30 minutes. He also spotted multiple orders brought in at the same time by two separate flying drones.
Project Wing spokeswoman Jacquelyn Miller previously announced that the project would be closed to the public and the media. But during the test run, the drones could be seen clearly from a nearby vantage point.
Miller refused to comment on the project and only said that Alphabet Inc. would release the necessary information as the project continues.
The head of "Project Wing" Dave Vos revealed during a recent interview with Mashable that the aim of the experiment was to collect data for the FAA to use to develop new delivery rules. The company has also partnered with NASA to come up with a framework for a low-level air-traffic system.
Conducting research is important to drone development. The FAA estimates that about 600,000 commercial drones could be operating in the United States within one year.