![]() Walker hinted that he is expecting big growth for the Walmart service in the next year or two. That’s important because operating a drone over 55 pounds requires special permission from the FAA. ![]() At the same time, DroneUp managed to keep the drone’s weight, with cargo, under 55 pounds (25 kg). For comparison, Wing’s service delivers up to 2.5 pounds of cargo. ![]() The company’s drones have eight propellers, and the service’s website says they can carry up to three pounds (1.4 kg) of cargo-though Walker says the drones are capable of carrying significantly more. Once the package is safely on the ground, the drone flies away, and the customer can pick it up. If the coast is clear, the drone will lower a Walmart box using a cable from a height of around 80 feet. The flight will abort if the operator sees anyone near the dropoff point. Customers are asked to keep themselves and their pets indoors until the drone flies off. Once a drone arrives at a customer location, a remote human operator uses cameras on the drone to verify that there is no one in the landing area. Walker says that DroneUp’s aircraft have “the ability to dynamically route around areas where might be, and also have sensors that let us know where people are on the ground.” The drones also have multiple redundancies to help ensure that the failure of any one component won’t cause it to crash. AdvertisementįAA regulations prohibit a drone from flying over people or moving vehicles. The question is how quickly they can scale up-and how many other companies can follow their lead. Wing and Walmart are using drones to deliver real merchandise to real customers. But drone delivery is finally moving beyond the research-and-development phase. The Wing and Walmart services are still pretty limited, with each service initially designed to perform around 100 deliveries per day. No one was injured, but the story underscores the fact that Amazon has yet to launch a commercial drone delivery service in the United States-despite a December 2013 segment on 60 Minutes where Jeff Bezos predicted drone deliveries might reach the market in four to five years. Bloomberg reported on a drone crash at an Amazon test facility in Oregon. Meanwhile, Amazon’s drone efforts got some unflattering press coverage last week. The service will soon expand to a third Walmart store in the same corner of Arkansas. Walmart delivers a range of products to customers within a 1.5-mile radius of two Walmart stores. One reason for that last caveat: Walmart has been running its own drone delivery service near its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters since November. Wing describes it as “the first ever commercial drone delivery service in a major US metropolitan area.” ![]() Wing drones take off from “nests” in two Walgreens parking lots to deliver things like health products or ice cream to nearby customers. The service will start later this year.Earlier this month, Google’s sister company, Wing, began offering a drone delivery service in the Dallas suburbs of Frisco and Little Elm. They will place an order as they normally would and receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for their order. Once onboarded, customers will see Prime Air-eligible items on Amazon. "We welcome Amazon to our community and stand ready to assist however we can."Īmazon is taking a rare personal approach for the rollout, reaching out to customers in both locations to give them an option to receive free and fast drone delivery on what's billed as the largest selection of items ever to be available for drone delivery. What happens here will help advance drone delivery for the rest of the country and perhaps the rest of the world," said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. "Being one of the first drone delivery locations for Amazon puts College Station at the forefront of this exciting technology. The service is set to roll out to customers in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas. This lineup of aerial hardware fits a variety of enterprise photography and video use cases.Īmazon's Prime Air service will deliver packages up to five pounds in less than an hour using drones.
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