With the aim of optimizing deliveries, Google has developed a drone system called Wing, which is already operational in the city of Virginia, USA., at the moment certain medicines and toilet paper are being distributed to evaluate how the process is; they comment that months before the spread of the coronavirus, they had started to run it and have now decided to continue it to prevent the virus from spreading.
During the last month, they have been able to observe an increase in requests for their services, they consider that this is due to the Covid-19 because people seek to avoid contact and reduce the risk of becoming infected, currently, their orders have focused on basic necessity products such as medicine, baby food, canned food, toilet paper and cleaning food.
James Ryan Burgess CEO of Wing comments that in the last two weeks they have made approximately more than a thousand deliveries to the community, which has been a significant increase that they know is due to the current situation, however, they expect their service can be liked by everything and is maintained in order to distribute all kinds of products.
This service has had a good scope due to the measures taken in the state of Virginia, where the governor has decreed that citizens must remain in their homes until the month of June, for which reason they must find a way to obtain supplies and avoid the contact with others.
Delivery process with drones
Wing’s drones can move 1.3-kilogram packages over a distance of almost 20 kilometers, they began their tests in 2014 in Australia with the service of leaving animal treats and first aid supplies for farmers who were at a distance of the city.
In order to receive the purchase, people send a request through an application. When approved, the drone goes to the pick-up place so that the products are loaded in a specially designed cardboard box that takes care of what is inside and prevents damage in the transfer; Then, the device begins its route, when it reaches the destination, the package goes down to the customer’s entrance and is automatically released, so there is no need to carry out any type of interaction or be there at the time of delivery.
Companies that are using this system
The Wing system currently provides delivery services for orders placed at FedEx, Walgreens supermarket, the local Mockingbird Cafe & Bakery, the Burgh Coffeehouse, which are local establishments that regularly have a large number of customers, who at the moment cannot access their facilities to protect their health and in this way they can continue enjoying their services.
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