Early last year Google acquired drone company Titan just as it was being rumored that Facebook was interested in picking it up. The drones that Titan builds are capable of staying up a long period of time while carrying payload that allow them to beam internet to people on the ground. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress 2015 today Sundar Pichai, a Google executive who needs no introduction, revealed that Titan’s drones will conduct their first test flight in the coming months.
Explaining on Titan’s progress so far Pichai said that the team is where Project Loon was a few years back. Project Loon is a similar initiative on Google’s part which involves high altitude balloons.
The folks at Titan are now building an extremely lightweight solar powered airplane which can hover in one area of the stratosphere. This might allow the airplane to beam internet to a targeted area on the ground.
Thus existing services could be supplemented with extra bandwidth or access can be provided in areas that have been struck by a natural disaster, or are otherwise just tricky enough that conventional methods don’t work.
According to Pichai Google hopes to put the program to good use by providing quality internet access to around four billion people who currently don’t have it.