On Wednesday, Alphabet’s Wing announced that it has opened its first command center, from where it pilots its drone delivery program. The new facility, located in Blacksburg, Virginia, is the company’s first for the United States.
Wing, which is a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, is dedicated to building drone technology to make deliveries faster, safer, and more convenient. The new facility is a base of operations to handle the launch of the Wing pilot program, by which the delivery service will bring everyday essentials such as pharmacy items, food and convenience store items to residents of rural and suburban communities.
The command center will host an operations team, who will check and launch flights, monitor deliveries, and support pilots. Wing’s delivery drone is remotely controlled. The team will use its technology to monitor the drone’s performance, making sure that flight paths are safe and that the quality of delivery services is consistently high.
The launch of the flight control center is an important step in Wing’s expansion plans across the United States and the world. In fact, Wing is already trialling drone delivery services in Australia, Finland, France and the United Kingdom. The new flight control center will make it easier for the company to expand into new markets, as it can be used for testing and training its pilots.
Wing’s drone delivery system has a wide range of applications, from helping to deliver lifesaving medical supplies to areas that are out of range of conventional delivery systems, to bringing grocery supplies to areas such as rural England where delivery vans can’t always make it.
The addition of the command center means that while the drone delivery system may still seem like a dream today, it’s one step closer to become a reality.