In news that is sure to cause college students around the country to choke on their bong water, Google parent company Alphabet today announced that its Project Wing drone division has teamed up with Chipotle and will this month begin drone deliveries of burritos. Bloomberg reports that the pilot program will at first be limited to the campus of Virginia Tech, and is meant to serve both as a test and proof of concept for large scale drone-delivery in non-Australian Outback settings.
In other words, "It’s the first time that we’re actually out there delivering stuff to people who want that stuff,” as Dave Vos, head of Project Wing, told the publication.
Starting this month, the burrito delivery plan — which involves lowering the not-E. coli stuffed edibles down from the sky with a winch — lends credence to the idea that Alphabet will be able to pull off its stated goal of widespread automated drone deliveries by 2017. It was just this past August that the company got permission from the White House to start testing drone delivery on public US soil, and it appears that efforts are moving briskly ahead.
Alphabet, of course, is not the only company working on drone delivery systems. Late last year competitor Amazon debuted a prototype, but was less specific about the timeline for a real-world deployment — saying only that "We will deploy when and where we have the regulatory support needed to safely realize our vision."
Interestingly, Mexican food delivery via drone was predicted by years ago by the fictitious tacocopter, but lovers of all things Chipotle should know that this is no elaborate prank. Au contraire, it's actually a complicated engineering feat.
“It sounds simple, but it’s not,” Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands told Bloomberg. “There are a lot of things to work out from a safety point of view and a policy point of view.”
The flight and delivery process will be fully automated, although a human will be at the ready to take control should something go wrong. Regardless, we are fully confident that the student body is ready for whatever Project Wing brings their way. Indeed, even Sands has long been excited about the idea.
"Last year while discussing the entrepreneurial spirit at Virginia Tech, I jokingly speculated we might one day have quadcopters delivering ramen noodles around campus — apparently I wasn't off by much," he observed in a statement picked up by CNN Money.
Those picturing drone-delivery to their dorm room window after a long night of drinking will have to wait just a bit longer, however, as the current program is restricted to a defined testing area. Students will need to go to that location and order the burrito from a special kiosk. It will then be prepared in a Chipotle truck before being sent on its merry way.
No word yet on whether the addition of guacamole (at $2.50!) and the extra weight that implies will slow the drones down. We have a feeling Virginia Tech college students will happily wait for their delicious sky burritos, either way.
Related: We May Be Getting Google Drone Delivery As Soon As Next Year
