Two drone projects that failed to take flight

Right after Alphabet revealed the shutdown of Titan, the company’s Internet drone project, news came that Lily was shutting down as well after receiving $34 million in pre-orders. Lily generated quite a bit of buzz a year ago when it announced its successful pre-order campaign. Unique features such as waterproofing and tracking helped make Lily a hit online. Tracking is now a common feature found in drones from larger competitors, most notably DJI. Drones today can track people using cameras and software, no wristband required, unlike Lily.

Alphabet's challenges with drones were quite different from those of Lily. Google bought Titan in 2014, but it has since faced funding and technical issues. It turns out that delivering Internet access to remote areas through solar-powered drones is harder than it sounds. Facebook has its own Internet drone program as well. Alphabet, however, wants to focus on Project Loon, which delivers Internet through the use of balloons. Perhaps, balloons are more cost-effective.

Although Lily and Alphabet faced different problems, they represent the limits of what drones can do. The drone industry has seen an explosion of growth over the last few years. Companies started looking at drones for all kinds of potential uses and consumers have their imaginations sparked by startups like Lily, which promised drones that can follow them everywhere.

Alphabet recognized that drones were not necessarily the best way to achieve its goals of connecting "the next billion" people to the Internet, so it is focusing its efforts elsewhere. Lily, on the other hand, is a classic case of a startup promising more than it could handle.

The good news for those buying these machines is that the market has changed a lot since Lily first announced its drone. Other companies figured out how to achieve what Lily promised and did it faster and better. Presumably it is better since these other products actually made it to market. The drone industry continues to grow, but some companies are still figuring out the limits.