Don't act surprised: Google has a drone-delivery program

Amazon is building drones to deliver things consumers buy, and Facebook is building drones so more people can get Internet access. And naturally, Google has been tinkering with drones, too.

At first, the idea of 2-year-old Project Wing, as the company has dubbed this Google X research project, was to use the unmanned aerial vehicles to send defibrillators to places where people had heart attacks. But Googlers now think the technology could help people share their belongings with one another in a matter of two minutes, according to a story on the project in the Atlantic.

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Google has gone in all sorts of wild directions in recent years, experimenting with contact lenses that could help people with diabetes, self-driving cars, Google Glass, of course, and even a cardboard version of a virtual-reality device. But as Google has ventured from its original intent to provide a way to search the Internet (and sell advertising), it’s moved into, among other areas, providing goods to people with Google Shopping Express. Perhaps Project Wing could lead to a whole new way to deliver goods instead of the truck.

Or Google could end up becoming a more reliable shipper of stuff people order from other services, like eBay.

In any case, like other drone projects from startups and these tech giants, it’s a fascinating project worth learning about.

And like other programs, it will face government scrutiny, at least in the U.S. Google has been talking with regulators, according to the Atlantic report.