According to a story on the Guardian website, the company has been exploring self-flying vehicles in recent years, and has hired a new team leader, Dave Vos – an expert in aviation automation – “to take Project Wing from research to product”.

A press release from Google apparently stated: “Self-flying vehicles could open up entirely new approaches to moving goods – including options that are cheaper, faster, less wasteful and more environmentally sensitive than what’s possible today.”

However, experts have indicated that safety and privacy concerns would likely lead to heavy restrictions on the use of drones. Amazon and other companies are currently lobbying the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to relax stringent rules on drone use in the US.