Missing out on Thin Mints in the pandemic? A Google affiliate is using drones to deliver Girl Scout cookies to people's doorsteps in a Virginia community.
The town of Christiansburg has been a testing ground for commercial delivery drones operated by Wing, a subsidiary of Google's corporate parent Alphabet.
Now the company is adding the iconic boxed cookies to the more mundane drugstore offerings, FedEx packages and locally-made pastries, tacos and cold brew coffees it's been hauling to a thinly populated area of residential subdivisions since 2019.
Wing said it began talking to local Girl Scout troops because they鈥檝e been having a harder time selling cookies during the pandemic, when fewer people are out and about. The organization jumped on the new twist to its skills-building mission.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited that I get to be a part of history," said 11-year-old Gracie Walker, of the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Troop 224. 鈥淧eople are going to realize and be, like, 鈥楬ey, this is better for the environment and I can just walk outside in my
It鈥檚 the latest attempt to build public enthusiasm for futuristic drone delivery as Wing competes against Amazon, Walmart, UPS and others to overcome the many technical and regulatory challenges of flying packages over
Federal officials started rolling out new rules in mid-April that will allow operators to fly small drones over people and at night, potentially giving a boost to commercial use of the machines. Most drones will need to be equipped so they can be identified remotely by law enforcement officials.
The 10-pound Wing drone that made the first deliveries in Christiansburg in fall 2019 is already an artifact held at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Whether it will go down in history as a revolutionary innovation or a utopian flop remains to be seen.
Amazon has also been working on drone delivery for years. In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in a TV interview that drones would be flying to customer鈥檚 homes within five years, but that deadline has long since passed. The company did win government approval to deliver packages by drones last August, but Amazon said it was still testing them and hasn鈥檛 started delivering goods to shoppers yet.
David Vos, an aerospace engineer who led Google鈥檚 Wing project until 2016, said he has been surprised that drone delivery ventures haven鈥檛 taken off more quickly.
鈥淚 thought it was completely doable to be up and going by 2021,鈥� Vos said. While he still thinks drone technology is getting closer to delivering the size, weight and power needed to transport goods safely in populated places, Vos said the tech industry also needs a cultural shift.
In particular, he said, it needs to bring on people from the traditional aviation industry who have experience building 鈥渟afety-critical systems鈥� that meet strict performance standards.
Wing's drones are able to navigate autonomously 鈥� without a human pilot controlling them remotely 鈥� and are powered by two forward propellers on their wings and 12 smaller vertical propellers. When a drone reaches its destination, it hovers above the front lawn as a tether releases to drop the package.
鈥淚t was so smooth and it didn鈥檛 shake," said Walker, who, before her troop added drones to its sales strategy, would don a mask and set up a cookie booth outside a home improvement store. 鈥淭hey look like a helicopter but also a plane."
There's not much evidence that consumers have been
But in a small survey of Christiansburg residents by researchers at nearby Virginia Tech that Wing helped fund, most townspeople appeared to be content with the drones.
鈥淥ne of the reasons is because Virginia Tech is here and there鈥檚 an engineering culture of trying new things," said Lee Vinsel, an assistant professor of science, technology and society who conducted the Virginia Tech survey. 鈥淎nd the suburban setup is easiest for drone delivery."
That might not be the case for much denser places, he added. 鈥淢anhattan would be tough.鈥�
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AP Retail Writer Joseph Pisani in New York contributed to this story.
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For all of AP鈥檚 tech coverage, visit https://apnews.com/apf-technology
Matt O'Brien, The Associated Press
