DoorDash pilots U.S. delivery of Wendy’s orders with Wing drones
DoorDash is bringing a successful drone delivery test in Australia to the U.S.
The on-demand delivery platform is now allowing select local consumers in Christianburg, Va. to order eligible menu items from Wendy’s and have them delivered via drones from Wing, the on-demand drone delivery provider powered by Google parent company Alphabet.
This new pilot follows a test program DoorDash and Wing launched in Australia in 2022 and has since expanded to three locations with over 60 participating retailers, marking the first time that Wing integrated its drone delivery service within another on-demand delivery marketplace.
Beginning Thursday, March 21, when DoorDash customers with an eligible address in Christiansburg place a qualifying order in the DoorDash app from a specific local Wendy’s restaurant, they will see the option to have their meal delivered by drone on the checkout page.
Once a customer selects drone delivery and places 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. Wing drones travel around 65 m.p.h., then hover and lower an order outside a customer’s doorstep using a tether.
Through this partnership, DoorDash says it aims to provide access to an innovative delivery solution, complementary to orders traditionally fulfilled by DoorDash personnel. The new offering is designed to offer a quick, 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 launch it in other U.S. cities later in 2024.
[Read more: Exclusive: Wing examines drone delivery, Walmart partnership]
"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, the company’s robotics and automation arm which developed the pilot. "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."
Founded in 2013, DoorDash offers deliveries in more than 25 countries.