Walmart is teaming up with Wing — a drone firm owned by Alphabet — to expand its drone delivery services in Texas.
The retail giant announced it would add the service to a location in Frisco, Texas in the coming weeks then to another supercenter in the Dallas metro area this year. Walmart already has drone hubs in the area but working with Wing should allow the company to expand its delivery area.
“Working with Wing directly aligns with our passion for finding innovative and eco-friendly last-mile delivery solutions to get customers the items they want, when they want them,” wrote Walmart Senior Vice President Walmart Prathibha Rajashekhar in a blog post. “With drones that can fly beyond visual line of sight, we’re able to unlock on-demand delivery for customers living within an approximate 6-mile range of the stores that offer the service.”
The expansion from Walmart should allow it to reach an additional 60,000 homes in the area, Walmart said. The company already offers drone delivery in 36 stores across seven states.
The drone deliveries should be able to deliver last-minute items, over the counter medication, time-sensitive things like ice cream, or something as fragile as eggs. People in the delivery area will be able to get deliveries from 10:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. on every day but Wednesday.
The highly automated drones fly at 65 miles per hour and should be able to get items to customers in half an hour. It’s likely some time before most Americans can have a drone plop ice cream on their front lawn — but the fact that some people can do it does feel like the future is here.
