A sister company of Google has been given the green light to launch drone delivery in Australia after years of test flights.
The drone company Wing, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, was given permission to deliver takeaway food and drinks and over-the-counter medicines by drone to about 100 homes in Canberra.
Wing, which has been trialing deliveries for the last 18 months, began testing its drones in Australia in 2014, but faced initial opposition from residents who complained about the noise. Although the drones were below legal noise limits, Wing developed a new, quieter model and said the feedback obtained during its trials had been “valuable” and it hoped to “continue the dialogue”.