DoorDash, Wing Launch Drone Delivery Pilot in US
DoorDash and Wing have launched their drone delivery partnership in the United States, starting in Christiansburg, Va. 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.
This follows the drone delivery pilot program that DoorDash and Wing launched in Australia in 2022 and has since expanded to three locations in Queensland with more than 60 participating merchants, marking the first time that Wing integrated its drone delivery service within another marketplace.
“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. “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.”
“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. “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.
“This moment continues our meaningful expansion of this service in the U.S. and advances our shared goal to better the last-mile delivery ecosystem.”
When DoorDash customers with an eligible address in Christiansburg place a qualifying order in the DoorDash app from the Wendy’s located at 2355 N. Franklin St., they will 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.
Through this partnership, DoorDash aims to provide access to an innovative delivery solution for consumers and merchants, complementary to traditional Dasher-fulfilled orders. The new offering provides a quick and sustainable delivery option for small, short-distanced orders while creating the potential for incremental order growth across the platform.
The pilot will initially be available in Christiansburg with plans to explore other cities later this year.
The drone delivery partnership with Wing was born out of DoorDash Labs, DoorDash’s robotics and automation arm. DoorDash sees automation as a means to develop the right platform solution to satisfy consumer demand, while improving efficiencies within the platform.
For more news of interest to the foodservice industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.