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Wing and Walgreens Partner to Launch Drone Delivery.
Wing
Wing, a drone delivery company owned by Google, is a delivery service in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area in Texas that uses specially-made drones that can fly from a store to a delivery destination in a fraction of the time.
Wing's drone delivery service.
Wing
Source: Wing
Until now, Wing has offered a delivery service for pharmacies, local coffee shops, home improvement stores, and more, limited to small cities in the United States. Customers place orders through a mobile app and receive the products from a drone
Wing's app
Wing
Source: Wing
Now, with the addition of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area to its service area, it has demonstrated that on-demand drone deliveries are possible in major US cities, driving to stores to pick up small packages. You won't have to head to the highway or get stuck in rush hour traffic. The service will launch in the coming months
Wing's drone delivery service.
Wing
Source: Wing
The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area will be the first major U.S. city to deliver drone deliveries. It is the world's largest delivery service in a residential area
Surroundings of Dallas
Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images
Source: Wing
Wing will begin by partnering with drugstore giant Walgreen to deliver over-the-counter medicines, food, and household items to residents of the Dallas suburbs of Frisco and Little Elm
Partnered with Walgreens for drone delivery.
Wing
Source: Wing
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The drone will be stored in a small container in a Walgreens parking lot. By using this container, stores that ship products can easily fly drones from rooftops, parking lots, and small places near buildings, and can set up arrival and departure stations in just a few hours
Containers and landing stations to house the drones.
Wing
Source: Wing
Wing's zero-emission electric drones are intended to operate in densely populated American urban areas, monitored from the ground by trained drone pilots
Wing's drone delivery service.
Wing
Source: Wing
To operate safely in urban areas, the drone is equipped with proprietary unmanned delivery management software. By doing so, it sets the delivery route after grasping the local weather data, terrain and airspace maps, and the activity status of other drones. By transmitting that information to other drones, safe delivery becomes possible
Wing's drone delivery service.
Wing
Source: Wing
The drone has fixed wings and hovering propellers, allowing it to move both as an airplane and as a helicopter, allowing it to fly in a balanced and stable manner
Wing's drone delivery service.
Wing
Source: Wing
Items will be packed and loaded onto the drones by Walgreens employees, not by Wing employees. This is a first for Walgreens.
A Walgreens employee prepares an item for shipment.
Wing
Source: Wing
In northern Dallas, there is a "Frisco Station" developed with the concept of a new urban life, and Wing will open a facility there as well. It will also have a delivery function, but will focus on "exploring new uses, demonstrating in the community, and responding to inspections"
The redevelopment area with the concept of new urban life " Rendering of the completed Frisco Station.
Frisco Station
Source: Wing, Frisco Station
Toward the launch of the service, Wing will conduct test flights and delivery demonstrations around Frisco and Little Elm to get customer feedback. In a few months, we will start a full-scale commercial delivery service using drones in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Boxes for goods delivered by drone.
Wing
Source: Wing
Wing currently operates a delivery service in Australia and Finland, and is now expanding its service to the United States
Wing in the skies of Helsinki, Finland drone.
Wing
Source: Wing
Wing operates the world's only rooftop drone delivery service in Logan, Australia, flying drones from the rooftop of the Grand Plaza shopping center and making over 2,500 contactless deliveries to people in the surrounding area.
A drone landing station on the roof of a shopping center in Logan, Australia.
Wing
Source: Wing
Wing says the "last mile" from the final distribution point to the customer is 15% to 20% of the total cost of a product transaction. This comes in the form of shipping costs or the effort required by the customer to pick up the product.
Australian drugstore employee holding a Wing shipping box.
Wing
Source: Wing
But that may change if Wing's drone delivery service can make last-mile deliveries more sustainable and efficient. According to Wing, if 4% to 6% of home deliveries in Australia were carried out by drones, the country's retail sales could increase by $2.2 billion by 2030.
drone delivery.
Wing
Source: Wing
Wing isn't the only company currently deploying drone delivery in the US. Israel-based Flytrex has been delivering Starbucks and Walmart products to residents of Fayetteville, North Carolina since 2020. Drone delivery of Starbucks drinks across the state.
Flytrex
Source: Flytrex, Insider
Flightrex says its service is more efficient than Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub deliveries. While these companies' delivery drivers make about 2.5 deliveries an hour, Flightrex's drone can make 10 deliveries in the same hour, significantly reducing costs for restaurants.
Fast food chain El Pollo Loco has partnered with Flightrex to deliver drone deliveries in Southern California.
Flytrex/El Pollo Loco
Source: Flytrex
Learn More Amazon lays off drone delivery development team en masse Former employee ``This project was hype'' Suspends Learn More service Google delivery drone attacked by crows [Video][Original: Google's drone delivery company is partnering with Walgreens to deliver meds, food, and household items to customers in Dallas]
(Translation: Fumiko Nakata, Editing: Toshihiko Inoue)
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