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Product delivery-by-drone in urban areas may be possible within a few years if the U.S. government and the aviation industry agree to work cooperatively on the new technology, the chief of Google Inc.’s drone cargo project said Jan. 11.

Amazon has unveiled what its unmanned drones for package delivery would look like with a video launched on Nov. 29 on the prototype of technology it announced two years ago.

A drone that can inspect roads and repair potholes autonomously is one of the goals of a recent university grant awarded with the vision of creating self-repairing cities.

Kenco, a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based logistics firm, said it is exploring the use of drones to manage its warehouse and yard operations.

Internet giant Alphabet Inc., the new holding company for Google, expects to begin delivering packages to consumers via drones in 2017, the executive in charge of its drone effort said Nov. 2.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. applied to U.S. regulators for permission to test drones for home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories, a sign it plans to go head-to-head with Amazon in using drones to fill and deliver online orders.

Rwanda may become the base for a network of so-called droneports for remote-controlled aircraft to deliver urgent cargo to remote parts of the tiny country known as the Land of a Thousand Hills.

Workhorse Group Inc. said it won Federal Aviation Administration approval to test its unmanned aircraft system called HorseFly, which is designed to fly to and from the company’s electric delivery vehicle.

Several other countries such as Canada and France have been faster to permit commercial drone flights than the United States, a government study found.