Google patents a "receptacle" for drone deliveriesMumbai, Jan 28(AZINS) Google had announced in November last year that it might be using drones to deliver packages in the US by 2017. While not much else is known about Project Wing, as it's called, they did have an early prototype way back in 2014. Now the latest patent, granted to the company just yesterday, gives us a little more detail about how it's all supposed to work.

The patent is for a "mobile delivery receptacle". It's basically a box, to store your package safely until you can retrieve it, mounted on wheels, allowing it move around. Once the box receives a signal that a delivery is on route, it emits infrared beacons to guide the drone to it. Once it arrives, the package is dropped into the receptacle, which then rolls itself to your door, or another place you consider safer.

Meanwhile, Amazon has also been working on drone deliveries; the company released a prototype November 2015, supposedly capable of carrying up to about 2.5kg over about 16km. Of course, none of these drones can really get off the ground until the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sets down laws to govern the previously uncharted residential airspaces.