Google abruptly dropped out of a $100 million Pentagon prize challenge to create technology for voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms after it was among the successful submissions, according to people briefed on the matter.
The company notified the government it wouldn’t participate further in the initiative, which seeks to create the technology needed to control drone swarms, on Feb. 11 — a few weeks after the proposal was submitted, according to another person briefed on the matter. The decision followed an internal ethics review, according to records referencing it that were reviewed by Bloomberg News.