Google's 'postman drones' delivers test order in Australia

Ordering dog food just got more exciting – this farmer received his order via a Google “postman drone”.

The self-flying vehicle also dropped off a first aid kit, sweets and water at the location in Australia after flying just over half a mile.

The delivery – seen in this video – is part of Project Wing from Google’s secretive research laboratory.

It is trying to build a fleet of drones designed to by-pass earthbound traffic to deliver packages to people more quickly.

The success of the test ups the ante in Google’s technological arms race with rival Amazon which is also experimenting with self-flying vehicles to carry orders.

Google expects it to take several more years before its fleet of drones is fully operational but the video makes drone order delivery fun – even for dog food.

Google and Amazon still need to gain government approval to fly commercial drones in many countries, including the US.

Project Wing is the latest venture to emerge from Google’s [X] lab, which has also been working on self-driving cars as well as other far-flung innovations that chief executive Larry Page likens to “moonshots” that push the technological envelope.