Recently, DoorDash and Wing of Alphabet announced the start of a drone delivery pilot program. The testing, which is restricted to “eligible items” from Wendy’s fast food chain, started in Christiansburg, Virginia, which has a population of about 22,000. It’s unclear as of yet if it includes the famous Frosty dessert/fry condiment.
Although there is just one Wendy’s location that is linked, local customers should notice a “deliver by drone” choice on the DoorDash checkout page. According to the corporation, orders should arrive in 30 minutes or less. This means that drones in the air will arrive about as quickly as a typical 1980s pizza delivery.
DoorDash also says that Wendy’s is just the first restaurant partner, suggesting that more are on the way. The company believes that drones will offer more “efficient, sustainable, and convenient delivery options for consumers.” To that end, the online food delivery platform plans on opening up the program to more US cities throughout the year.
If all of this sounds eerily familiar, you aren’t imagining things. These types of pilot programs have been popping up all over the place. This isn’t even DoorDash and Wing’s first partnership. The companies teamed up in 2022 to do something similar in Australia. The program was a success, eventually expanding to 60 participating restaurants in Queensland.
Wing is the clear leader in this field. The company recently began offering drone deliveries from Walmart to Dallas consumers. Earlier this year, Wing unveiled a new delivery drone that reaches speeds of 65 MPH, with a maximum payload capacity of five pounds. That’s, according to my math, nearly six Wendy’s Baconators.
