Alphabet tests drones as US considers new rules

Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google Inc, is joining tests for drone deliveries, US officials announced on Tuesday, as the White House unveiled accelerated rule-making for commercial unmanned aircraft operations.

The announcement at a White House event said the US tech giant will participate in safety research through Project Wing, which is part of the "moonshot" unit called X created last year when Google was reorganized under Alphabet.

Project Wing will work at one of the six research centers set up by the Federal Aviation Administration for drone tests and its data "will be shared with government partners to help regulators answer critical safety and human factor questions for (drone) cargo delivery operations", a White House statement said.