DoorDash Starts Drone Deliveries From Wendy’s

Food delivery service DoorDash announced the expansion of its partnership with Alphabet’s Wing drone company to test drone deliveries in the U.S. beginning with customers in Christiansburg, Virginia. 

Wendy’s has been named the first restaurant partner and under the pilot program, select customers can order eligible items to be delivered by drone.

The U.S. pilot follows DoorDash and Wing’s drone delivery program that launched in 2022 in Australia and is the first time the online food ordering and delivering platform will offer drone delivery in the U.S. 

Customers place a qualifying order in the DoorDash app from the participating Wendy’s and select the option to have their order delivered by drone. The meal is then prepared, packaged and delivered within 30 minutes.

Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs, said the company is expected to expand its partnership with Wing in the U.S. to integrate drone delivery into more of the DoorDash ecosystem.

“At DoorDash, we are committed to advancing last-mile logistics by building a multi-modal delivery platform that serves all sides of our marketplace,” Shih said. “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.”

Related:Walmart, Wing Team for Dallas Area Drone Deliveries

Cosimo Leipold, head of partnerships at Wing, said the decision to launch in the U.S. was a direct result of the success the two had in Australia. 

“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,” Leipold said. “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.”

DoorDash and Wing said they plan to explore launching the drone delivery service in other U.S. cities later this year.