What appears to be a scene from sci-fi movies will soon become a reality.
Google sister company Wing has announced that it will start the pilot-test of drone package deliveries in some parts of the United States in October.
Wing has partnered with FedEx and the drugstore chain Walgreens to jumpstart its new drone offering in Christiansburg, Virginia, reported Quarts.com.
So people expecting their packages via FedEx will have the option to get their packages via drone as long as they live in certain areas covered by Wing. For Walgreens, the customers may order online non-prescription drugs and have them delivered via a drone.
Wing’s drones can currently make a round-trip flight of about 6 miles (9.7 km), traveling about 60 miles per hour (97 km per hour), and can carry around 3 lbs (1.4 kg) of payload. It won’t be charging for the delivery service itself during the trial period.
Christiansburg, Virginia is one of the two areas in the state that Wing has been testing its drone technology for years. It has also completed over 80,000 test flights and thousands of deliveries at its facilities in Australia and the US.
The drones don’t actually land on the ground in making their deliveries on “safe delivery zones.” They hover about 23 ft (7 m) off the ground and lower their packages through a cable.
“But for now, while the company says it’s the largest pilot program launched under the new Trump administration regulations, Wing’s work remains a relatively small trial in a specific part of the country. If the test goes well, Wing said it would like to offer deliveries across the US in the future,” the Quartz reported.
