Google Bets $10.7 Million On Drone Intelligence

Echoing a company belief in autonomous systems, clever algorithms, and replacing fallible humans with smart machines, Google's venture capital arm announced yesterday that it is investing $10.7 million in a company that makes drone brains. The company, Airware, builds autopilots for unmanned aerial systems. Because space and weight are at a premium on drones, especially small ones, Airware's systems can get pretty tiny--one model weighs 32 grams, or about the same as a pocketful of coins. Airware made news in January (under their previous name of Unmanned Innovations, Inc.) when a Kenyan wildlife conservation group purchased one of its drones to fly over a nature preserve and watch for poachers. Google itself has a history with robot vehicles.