Walmart and Wing, an on-demand drone delivery provider owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, will extend its service to two Texas Walmart stores. There are already 11 drone hubs operating in the Dallas area, and new additions will expand drone delivery options to an additional 60,000 homes.
Customers can find out if they’re within Wing’s 6-mile drone delivery range of participating stores by downloading the Wing app in the App Store or Google Play. Create an account and enter your address. If the app displays a “Coming Soon” message, customers can place an order on day one. If the app says you’re not eligible, Wing said to check back in the coming weeks after launch because they’ll be adding more neighborhoods.
Like Walmart’s regular delivery system, they’ll be able to order food, over-the-counter medicine and household necessities. Wing said drones will speed up the process, dropping off deliveries within 30 minutes between 10:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. six days a week.
Walmart has been working on incorporating drone delivery for the past two years. The company invested in DroneUp in 2021 and tested delivering at-home COVID-19 self-collection tests. At the time, Walmart said the experiment proved that it could significantly shorten delivery times. The following year, Walmart expanded services to select markets in Texas, Arizona and Florida with same-day drone delivery available in Tampa, Orlando, Phoenix and Dallas. Working with Alphabet’s Wing further speeds up its drone ambitions.
Walmart said working with Wing is also part of its plan to employ more eco-friendly and innovative delivery solutions.
“This is an exciting next step for our customers, as it provides even more access to a convenient, innovative and – most importantly – super speedy way to get the items they need,” Walmart said in a statement.
Wing said its technology is designed to complement existing delivery options for more efficient ways to meet customer needs.
“This is a major milestone for Wing, as we continue down our path toward building capabilities to support some of the most significant delivery operations in the world,” Wing said in a blog post.