DoorDash Pilots Drone Delivery

DoorDash and drone delivery service Wing revealed Thursday the launch of their drone delivery partnership in the U.S., starting in Christiansburg, Virginia. The announcement follows the drone delivery pilot program that DoorDash and Wing launched in Australia in 2022 and has since expanded to three locations with over 60 participating merchants.

The pilot will initially be available in Christiansburg with plans to explore other cities in the U.S. later this year.

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Wing in the U.S. to integrate drone delivery into DoorDash’s ecosystem,” said Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs, in a statement. “At DoorDash, we are committed to advancing last-mile logistics by building a multi-modal delivery platform that serves all sides of our marketplace. 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.”

Select local consumers will be able to order eligible menu items from Wendy’s, the pilot’s first restaurant partner, through the DoorDash marketplace and have them delivered via drone. The grocery delivery platform said that deliveries typically take 30 minutes or fewer through the drone service.

“Expanding our partnership with DoorDash and launching in the U.S. is a direct result of the success we’ve seen from our initial collaboration in Australia, where Wing has served tens of thousands of customers via the DoorDash app for over a year now,” said Cosimo Leipold, head of partnerships at Wing, in a statement. “Wing has now made over 350,000 deliveries across three countries and looking ahead we are focused on providing a fast, affordable, and safe service to our partners so they can better serve their customers.”

Through this partnership, DoorDash aims to provide access to a delivery solution for consumers and merchants, complementary to traditional Dasher-fulfilled orders. Drone delivery provides a quick and sustainable delivery option for small, short-distanced orders while creating the potential for incremental order growth, said DoorDash.