Googles parent company establishes two new companies

Author: Sebastian Thelen
Date: 17.07.2018

Loon and Wing as results of research projects

The research projects Loon and Wing of Googles parent company Alphabet become their own companies. Alphabet recently announced this in a blog post.

Loon’s goal is to use balloons to bring internet into remote locations around the world, according to Astro Teller, head of the Alphabet Future Lab X. For this, Loon will partner with mobile operators. The project was launched five years ago and has recently provided Internet access to Puerto Rico. After hurricane Maria, the country was affected by power failures.

The project Wing develops together with Alphabet delivery drones and a system for autonomous air traffic control. This should allow drones to fly safely through the air in a fleet and abseil their supplies from the air. About four years ago, the drones were presented to the public by Wing as the first public for the first time.

The current companies were established as projects of lab X. X is the research department of Alphabet, which developed the self-propelled cars of Google. X also works on robots and data glasses.

Loon and Wing belong, among other companies, such as the health company Verily, to the category “other bets” of the Group. The department has so far recorded deep red numbers and has no economic effect compared to the Google business. In the first quarter, “other bets” had an operating loss of $ 571 million and $ 150 million in revenue. Meanwhile, Google generated around $ 8.4 billion and about $ 31 billion in revenue.