DoorDash Australia Tests Drone Delivery
A partnership with Alphabet's Wing is making it happen.
DoorDash is delivering food by air.
Wing, a drone delivery company owned by Google parent Alphabet, is running a pilot program in Logan, Australia, to transport groceries and other goods through DoorDash, according to a Tuesday blog post.
When using the DoorDash app, customers can set up a drone delivery spot in their yard. Wing said deliveries are expected to take 15 minutes or less. The service will be available to a small number of households and will slowly expand in the coming months, according to Wing.
"Drone delivery can provide an excellent complement to our ground delivery services," Rebecca Burrows, general manager of Australia DoorDash, said in a statement. "Delivery drones create a quick, efficient delivery option for smaller orders weighing just over a kilo, and free up ground delivery services for larger deliveries that provide better compensation to drivers."
Drone deliveries have slowly been rolling out over the past few years. In 2020, the US Federal Aviation Administration introduced new rules for unmanned aircrafts to operate around people.
Since then, companies such as Walmart and Amazon have introduced drone delivery pilot programs in the US. Walgreens partnered with Wing last year to deliver small packages in Dallas. As online shopping demands grow, drones could become an alternative for getting products to people's doorsteps without requiring a person to act as an intermediary. Shipments of drones are predicted to reach 2.4 million in 2023, according to an analysis by Insider Intelligence.