DoorDash and Wing, the drone delivery division of Google parent company Alphabet, are bringing their drone delivery partnership to the U.S. following a year-long trial in Australia. The new offering from DoorDash will debut in Christiansburg, Va. — where Wing first launched its U.S. commercial operations in 2019 — with Wendy’s signed on as the first restaurant partner in the pilot.
DoorDash and Wing first teamed up in Australia in 2022 in a partnership that has since expanded to three locations in Queensland with over 60 participating merchants. Now, when DoorDash customers with an eligible address in Christiansburg place a qualifying order from the Wendy’s located at 2355 N. Franklin Street, they’ll see the option to have their meal delivered by drone on the checkout page. Once they select drone delivery and place their order, it will be prepared and packaged at the Wendy’s location and delivered via a Wing drone, typically in 30 minutes or less.
“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.”
DoorDash said in a statement that it hopes to establish drone delivery as a “quick and sustainable delivery option” for small, short-distance orders that will serve as a complement to its traditional Dasher-fulfilled orders.
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“At DoorDash we are committed to advancing last-mile logistics by building a multi-modal delivery platform that serves all sides of our marketplace,” said Harrison Shih, Senior Director of DoorDash Labs, the company’s robotics and automation arm, in a statement. “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 and Wing plan to expand the pilot to other U.S. locations later this year.
