Wing, Google-parent company Alphabet’s drone-delivery subsidiary, has just announced a new partnership with Walmart in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. Over the coming month, the drone-delivery service will start operating from two Walmart Supercenters reaching approximately 60,000 homes. According to Walmart’s corresponding announcement post, using Wing’s app, “customers will be able to order items like frozen treats (when those ice cream cravings hit), household essentials, last-minute meal solutions like macaroni and cheese, and even fragile items like eggs.”
And delivery will be fast. Wing is aiming to complete deliveries in under 30 minutes. To achieve that, its drones can fly at speeds of up to 65 mph and have a six-mile range. Crucially, the FAA allows one pilot to oversee multiple drones—all of which can be beyond visual range. As Shannon Nash, Wing’s chief financial officer writes in the announcement, “Wing’s technology allows operators to oversee the system from a remote location, which means pilots won’t need to be stationed at stores or customer homes. The aircraft essentially fly themselves, so each operator is approved to safely oversee many drones at the same time.” According to Bloomberg, though, Wing still has to have a spotter on the ground who keeps an eye out for small aircraft that aren’t capable of broadcasting their location.
While all this is impressive, you won’t be able to use Wing to satisfy any midnight cravings. The service will operate between 10:30am and 6:30pm every day except Wednesday.
