We think the airspace side of this picture is really not a place where any one entity or any one organization can think of taking charge.
— Dave Vos, head of Google s Project Wing, says the company has no intention of seizing control of the efforts to establish an air-traffic control system for drones. But it is among the more than a dozen companies that have signed on to the NASA project to create a system to prevent collisions as more small drones take to the skies. Also among the companies is Amazon, which has a well-publicized plan to use drones to deliver its wares. (BTW, have you seen the Audi commercial that imagines the worst-case scenario of what that would be like?)
Bloomberg notes that a few companies are already working on limited drone-control and network systems, including Menlo Park-based Skydio and San Francisco s Airware and DroneDeploy.
Who will end up in charge is up in the air: The government? A private coalition? NASA is holding a conference at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field next week that will address those questions and more.
Above: Amazon released this photo of a prototype delivery drone on Dec. 1, 2013. (Amazon/AFP/Getty Images)