Wing, a Google subsidiary specializing in drone delivery, has just announced the launch of its service in Dallas, Texas on April 7. This is the first time that the firm will operate in a densely populated area.
Several brands are in partnership with Wing
This deployment is established within the framework of a main partnership with Walgreens, an American retail chain mainly focusing on health and well-being products. Residents of suburban towns Fort Worth and Little Elm, north of Dallas, will also be able to have items delivered from brands such as Blue Bell Creameries, Easyvet, and even Texas Health.
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Thus, small shipping containers will be parked near the stores participating in the collaboration, in which the drones of the Wing company will be located. After receiving online orders, employees at each partner store will take out the products to load them into cardboard packaging attached to the drones. Wing’s operational team will then pilot the device remotely to the homes of customers, of whom there will be a limited number at the start of the operation.
” I want to set clear expectations: not everyone who lives within range of our drones will be able to order on day one. We will be inviting customers in groups to ensure everyone has a good first drone delivery experience. says Wing CEO Adam Woodworth.
Wing is already present on three continents
As a reminder, Wing’s drones can operate as both fixed-wing aircraft and hovering copters. Unlike other delivery drones, these do not need to land to drop off goods: they fly to where the customer is, descend to a height of seven meters, then lower the parcels on a rope and automatically deposit them on the ground, precisely The Verge.
Currently, Wing operates delivery drones in Helsinki, Finland, the US city of Christiansburg in Virginia, and Logan and Canberra in Australia. In total, the firm has made more than 200,000 commercial deliveries, the majority of these taking place in Australia. Like its sister company, Waymo, Wing focuses on incremental improvements before pulling the lever for large-scale rollout.
His arrival in the city of Dallas represents ” a milestone for Wing and U.S. drone delivery “, according to Adam Woodworth.
Will drone delivery finally take off?
Indeed, a few years ago, drone delivery was full of promise, but its deployment has not gone as planned at all. The bitter failure of Prime Air, Amazon’s drone delivery service and the stagnation of the project set up by Uber are proof of this.
The operations carried out by delivery drones are, for the time being, very limited and often confined to fairly remote areas. On the other hand, delivery robots, often moving by rolling on sidewalks, are on the rise across the Atlantic and are being tested by many companies. It remains to be seen whether Wing’s ambitions will allow drone delivery to finally take off.