Alphabet's drone project leader steps down from X
The leader of Alphabet’s Project Wing drone initiative, Dave Vos, is stepping down from his role at X to pursue new opportunities. The current CEO of X, Astro Teller, will be interim leader during the hiring process. Project Wing recently tested drones delivering burritos from fast food outlet, Chipotle, to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

The head of Alphabet Inc.’s Project Wing, the drone initiative started by Google in 2012, is stepping down, MarketWatch has learned.

Dave Vos is stepping down from his lead project role at X, formerly known as Google X, to “pursue new opportunities,” a spokeswoman for Alphabet’s GOOGL, +0.20% GOOG, +0.22% Project Wing division confirmed Tuesday.

“Dave has helped to build a strong foundation of aviation culture on the team, and brought Project Wing to a place where we understand and can execute delivery missions end-to-end, repeatedly and safely,” Project Wing said in an emailed statement. “We’re grateful for Dave’s contributions and wish him the best of luck in future endeavors.”

Astro Teller, current CEO of X, will step in as interim lead during the search for a permanent leader. Teller oversees X’s other projects, including Project Loon, which is working on using high-altitude balloons to provide Internet access to rural and remote areas, Makani, a project to generate cheap wind power in the form of “energy kites,” and the Google Self-Driving Car Project.

Project Wing was recently in the news for testing drones delivering Chipotle CMG, +0.91% burritos at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The project invited students who forked over a $5.99 delivery fee to the field to test out deliveries, in which a truck at the bottom of a hill shipped burritos up the hill to where students were waiting.

Vos worked at Google for about two years, according to his LinkedIn page, and has a Ph.D in Aerospace Dynamics, Estimation and Controls from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his time with Project Wing, Vos also worked with the Federal Aviation Adminsitration, serving as the co-chair of a task force focused on drone registration.