Consumer Watchdog Questions NASA’s Secret Deal With Google To Test Drones

Consumer Watchdog asked NASA Inspector General Paul Martin to end a special deal with Google to test unmanned drones over private land. That agency's decision to grant the company a waiver to test drones gives Google an unfair advantage over competitors, and the benefits to taxpayers are unclear, said a CW letter Tuesday to Martin. “NASA should suspend this special arrangement with Google immediately ... pending an explanation about how this technology benefits taxpayers and the federal government itself,” Consumer Advocate Liza Tucker wrote. This isn't the first time Google has abused taxpayer dollars to advance commercial technology, Tucker said. In its letter to Martin, Consumer Watchdog asked the NASA official to also investigate whether a special relationship between Google and NASA officials led to the “unusual arrangement,” which was kept secret until Google recently filed for a Federal Aviation Administration waiver to operate unmanned aircraft. Google and NASA have tested drones over private land in the U.S. throughout the past year, said a CW news release. Its letter said other U.S. companies like Amazon have been testing drones at sites outside the U.S., including Canada, due to “frustration with gaining U.S. permission to test its technology.” In the next six months, Google and NASA want to test in Merced, California, to see if cellphone signals can be used to control and land drones, it said. NASA and Google didn’t comment.