Walmart Expands Drone Delivery to 1.8 Million More Texas Households

Walmart is expanding its drone delivery reach with a new partnership that will offer drone delivery to nearly 75% of residents in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a move the company says will give it “the largest drone delivery footprint of any U.S. retailer.”

The company has teamed with on-demand drone delivery providers Wing and Zipline to bring the convenience of drone delivery to communities across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Under the partnership, drone delivery will expand to stores in more than 30 area towns and municipalities. 

“Customers will have access to a broad assortment of items from Walmart available for delivery to their home in just minutes,” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president of Innovation & Automation at Walmart U.S. “Drone delivery is not just a concept of the future, it’s happening now and will soon be a reality for millions of additional Texans.”

Both Zipline and Wing have received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to fly delivery drones longer distances without visual observers. 

Walmart teamed with Wing in September to offer drone delivery of orders from two Dallas-area stores.

Wing is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet. 

Wing CEO Adam Woodworth says it was clear during the company’s first few months delivering to Walmart customers that demand for drone delivery is real. 

Related:Walmart, Wing Team for Dallas Area Drone Deliveries

“The response has been incredible from customers ordering drone delivery from Walmart every day, and it’s a testament to our partnership that we’re now expanding our footprint to bring this innovative delivery option to millions of Texans,” Woodworth said. “If this milestone is any indication, we believe 2024 is the year of drone delivery.”

Walmart says drone delivery lets customers get their items in 30 minutes or less and some in as little as 10 minutes. That’s on top of the company’s express delivery, offering deliveries in three hours or less, as well as late-night delivery until 10 p.m. and an in-home option delivered right to a customer’s refrigerator. 

Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, co-founder and CEO of Zipline says autonomous delivery is finally ready to scale nationally.  

“Zipline is excited to enable Walmart’s vision of providing customer delivery so fast it feels like teleportation,” Rinaudo Cliffton said. “Walmart is leading the U.S. in using robotics and AI to help people save money and live better. We’re excited for folks across Dallas-Fort Worth to experience delivery that is 7x as fast, zero emissions and whisper quiet with our next-generation technology.”

Related:Amazon Starts Drone Prescription Deliveries; Intros New Drone Design

Since it began testing drone delivery, Walmart has completed more than 20,000 deliveries.