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Millions of drones are buzzing in the air, bringing the supplies you need to prepare your dinner, medicines you forgot to take in the pharmacy or even a good cup of coffee.
For some, it's the inevitable and effective future. For others, this might look more like the beginnings of a dystopian horror story.
In any case, it is now closer to reality. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday that Wing, the drone delivery unit of Google's parent company, Alphabet, had received the agency's first authorization to use drones to transport and deliver parcels for commercial purposes. .
Wing had previously tested his drones in a suburb of Canberra, Australia, where the machines had made more than 3,000 deliveries, partly to demonstrate drone safety and get permission from F.A.A, the company said.
There will be restrictions on his American effort. Drone deliveries will be limited to parts of southwestern Virginia, where Wing is already part of an FDA. pilot program to integrate drones into society. The exact locations are still being determined.
Drones can only be used during the day, when the weather is clear enough for them to see, said Greg Martin, F.A.A. spokesman.
They can not fly above 400 feet (planes and helicopters usually fly above 500 feet). A drone pilot can remotely pilot up to five machines, although it is unclear whether the total number of drones allowed in the sky is limited at the same time.
Despite the restrictions, the sponsors of the drones described the approval of the F.A.A., known as air carrier certification, as a revolutionary game, particularly with respect to regulation, technology and public aversion. slowed the progress of drone delivery initiatives.
"From our point of view, drones are more used than human aviation," said Mark Blanks, director of the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, one of the organizations involved in the pilot program. "This accomplishment is huge, and I think it's a glimpse of the future of the future."
The hype about the commercial delivery of drones has increased after Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, predicted Interview "60 minutes" in 2013 that deliveries of drones could become commonplace within five years.
It has not succeeded in materializing. But overall, drones are increasingly used in different ways.
In the United States, they have been used for emergency response, surveillance and aerial photography.
Jonathan Bass, a spokesman for the squadron, said deliveries in Virginia are expected to begin later this year, although there is no specific date. What the drones will actually deliver remains to be determined, but the company said it would focus on the products of local companies.
Wing said she would ask local community leaders to provide feedback in the coming months on how best to implement the program.
When a Wing drone makes a delivery, it oscillates at about 20 feet and lowers the package on a hook. Customers can select what they want to deliver on an application.
In Canberra, where Wing did most of his testing, one of the most commonly delivered products was coffee, Bass said. The drones also delivered ice cream, medicine, meals and, in one case, mascara to a beautician who was out of stock during his metamorphosis.
"There are many interesting uses, some of which would not have been anticipated," Bass said.
Bass said the use of drones is "safer than getting in his car and picking something up, it's better for the environment, it's faster."
"Personally, I love cooking a lot," he added. "I can not count the number of times I get to the end of a recipe and realize that I'm missing an ingredient. Having it delivered directly to my yard or to my front door will be extremely valuable.
Not everyone has taken the idea of drones. Pew Research Center A survey conducted in December 2017 found that 54% of Americans disapproved of flying drones near homes, 11% supported them, and 34% supported boundaries.
There are also questions about the economics and whether consumers will pay the extra cost for small and light items to be delivered by drone.
James Burgess, CEO of Wing, told The New York Times in March that "the scale is not about us at the moment."
"We are confident that we will eventually be able to develop a delivery service for communities, which will allow them to transport items in minutes at low cost," he said.
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