How a machine-learning 'breakthrough' may accelerate Alphabet's Loon project

A machine-learning'breakthrough'on Alphabet's Loon project to connect the unconnected in the world's underdeveloped and remote areas could accelerate progress on global Internet connectivity. Project Loon has "now exceeded even their own expectations for how well their smart software algorithms can help their balloons navigate the globe, and in the process they've leapt much closer to a day when balloon-powered Internet could become a reality for people in rural and remote regions of the globe," wrote Astro Teller, the head of X, Alphabet's self-described'moonshot factory' that houses Project Loon and has produced such innovations as Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car project. Project Loon is a network of free-flying, high-altitude balloons that beam Internet to earth. And the machine-learning breakthrough announced yesterday comes at an important time, because the project has struggled with several issues that have brought its viability into question, including renegade balloons that floated off-course or crashed. "Although our navigation algorithms can get even better, and we need to test them in many other parts of the world, this is a positive sign for Loon's economic and operational viability," Teller wrote.