DoorDash, Alphabet-Owned Wing and Wendy’s Launch Drone Delivery in Virginia

DoorDash and Alphabet-owned Wing have brought their drone delivery pilot program to the United States.

This expansion builds on the pilot program that the two companies launched in Australia in 2022 and have since expanded to three locations and 60 participating merchants in that country, DoorDash and Wing said in a Thursday (March 21) press release.

The U.S. pilot program has been launched in Christiansburg, Virginia, according to the release. It allows select local customers to order eligible items from one Wendy’s location in the city through the DoorDash marketplace and have them delivered via drone.

“At DoorDash, we are committed to advancing last-mile logistics by building a multi-model delivery platform that serves all sides of our marketplace,” Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs, said in the release. “We’re optimistic about the value drone delivery will bring to our platform as we work to offer more efficient, sustainable and convenient delivery options for consumers.”

DoorDash customers eligible to participate in this pilot program will see the option for drone delivery on the checkout page of the app, according to the press release. If they select drone delivery when placing their order, the meal will typically be delivered in 30 minutes or less.

This option is meant to complement the traditional deliveries by drivers on the DoorDash platform, aiming to provide a quick, sustainable way to deliver small orders over short distances, the release said.

After the launch in Christiansburg, DoorDash and Wing plan to explore expanding the pilot program to other cities in the U.S. later this year, per the release.

“Expanding our partnership with DoorDash and launching in the U.S. is a direct result of the success we’veseen from our initial collaboration in Australia, where Wing has served tens of thousands of customers via the DoorDash app for over a year now,” Cosimo Leipold, head of partnerships at Wing, said in the release.

Wing is also working with Walmart, which said in August 2023 that it was expanding its drone delivery services to customers in the Dallas metro area. At that time, Walmart had drone delivery operations across seven states and 36 stores.

Amazon, too, offers drone delivery in Texas. Amazon Pharmacy offers customers in College Station the option of have drone delivery bring prescription medications to their doorstep within 60 minutes of placing an order.