Google Alphabet highlights its efforts in drones and balloons

Alphabet, Google's parent company, seeks to give autonomy to two projects, one for drones for product delivery and the other for aerostatic balloons for connectivity internet, to convert them into independent companies, announced the group Wednesday.

The project "Loon" plans to place balloons in the atmosphere to improve Internet connections in remote areas, while "Wing" focuses on the use of drones for the delivery of goods.

Both are part of the "moonshot factory", or project "X", created in 2010 by Google.

These two projects will become independent companies within Alphabet and, later, if they succeed or need additional funding, they will be able to completely separate themselves from the rest of the activities of the internet giant.

"X's goal is to create revolutionary new technologies and turn ideas into viable concepts," said Astro Teller, project manager at Alphabet, on a blog.

"Now that the basic technology for these projects exists, Loon and Wing are ready to offer their products to the world," he added. The squadron will be under the responsibility of James Ryan and Loon of Alastair Westgarth.

Alphabet has adopted the same approach in the past with Waymo in the field of autonomous vehicles, Chronicle in cybersecurity and Really in life sciences. Dandelion, geothermal energy, has become a totally independent society.

Another Internet giant, Facebook, announced in late June that it was ending its drone development program capable of providing Internet access to parts of the planet that do not have it. have not yet, but that he would continue to work in this area. industrial partners such as the aircraft manufacturer Airbus.