Video of Google's newest delivery drone released on Twitter

The quadcopter drone can drop off its packages without landing

A prototype delivery drone developed by French company Geopost takes part in a test flight (BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images)

A video of an early version of Google's delivery drone has been posted on Twitter, and shows the project has come on leaps and bounds since it was announced last summer.

Google announced their drone delivery project in August 2014, with a video that showed a stealth bomber-esque drone dropping off a package at a remote Australian farm.

The drone has completely changed shape since then, and the recent video, posted by Aaref Hilaly, a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia, shows a more conventional four-rotor helicoper drone.

However, the airborne drop-off is still a thing - the video clearly shows the package coming down on a cable, which is then hoisted back up while the drone is in flight. Hilaly also said the Google promises the drone will be able to travel five miles in as many minutes.

It's unclear whether this feature is more practical compared to Amazon's delivery drones, which have to land when they deliver parcels, but it's certainly much cooler.

The drone looks a little unsteady, and the project is still in its early stages - there's still a lot of engineering and legal work to go through before real delivery drones, whether they're from Google or Amazon, actually hit the skies.

The video's publication came on the same day that it emerged the US government is planning on regulating drones, by introducing compulsory registration for the devices with the Department of Transportation.

The news was not welcomed by some drone owners, who failed to see the point in registration and worried that the plan could hamper growth in the booming drone industry.

The registration plan isn't likely to be a huge problem for a company the size of Google, but further drone regulation could make these kinds of delivery services more difficult to implement.