Alphabet's drone delivery unit has unveiled the first of a new family of large drones capable of carrying large payloads.
Wing designed the drone to carry payloads weighing up to 1.1 kg. The new drone can carry payloads weighing up to 2.2 kg without compromising its range.
According to Alphabet, the drone has enough batteries to complete a round trip of 19.3 kilometers at a speed of 104 kilometers per hour.
The department noted that its customers can increase the utility of its services by using larger drones that can carry more items to order more items.
The ministry said it plans to deploy the new drones in the communities where it operates in the coming months.
The idea of aggregating orders is based on the data Wing collects from its customers. The company says that 70% of its order deliveries are made with one drone, while 30% require two drones.
Adding larger drones allows the company to better serve customers who have pre-ordered multiple items that require multiple drone deliveries.
Drones use ropes and hooks to lower bags and small boxes into customers' yards.
Alphabet's drone delivery unit, Wing, said it had made more than 350,000 deliveries, most of them in Australia.
The Alphabet unit also operates in Finland and the United States, where it delivers orders to Walmart customers within a 6-mile radius of two department stores outside Dallas-Fort Worth and some stores in Christiansburg, Virginia.
For many years, drone delivery companies have been hampered by regulations that require operators to keep drones within sight at all times.
Deploying observers along drone routes is an impractical and expensive idea, and has hindered the expansion of many companies.
After years of testing prototypes and small pilots in suburbs, the number of drone deliveries is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years as some regulatory hurdles are cleared.