Google's drone-delivery initiative, Project Wing, plans to start delivering packages by 2017, project lead David Vos said Monday, according to Reuters.
"Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017," he said during an air traffic control convention.
In October, the company registered two new drone models with the Federal Aviation Administration for testing in Colorado, the first evidence of innovation since Google X boss Astro Teller announced in March that its original design was too hard to control.
Vos' timeline indicates that Project Wing believes that these fresh models will be able to effectively function in just over a year.
The original prototype took off vertically and then shifted to a horizontal position for flight, but it's unclear from the FAA documents how these new drones work.
Google envisions its delivery drones being able to transport packages more quickly than regular methods, while cutting down on pollution.
Meanwhile, retail giants Amazon and Walmart are also tackling the speedy-delivery challenge with delivery drones.
Amazon has said that its drones will be ready to fly as soon as the FAA regulations allow them to. That seems to put its trajectory slightly ahead of Google's, since FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said in June that finalized regulations were expected within 12 months.
Project Wing is technically an Alphabet property, as Larry Page made clear when it announced its corporate restructuring earlier this year.
