Texas is gearing up to take a flying leap into the future of shopping. Two Walgreens locations, one in Frisco and one in Little Elm, are preparing to offer drone delivery services to local shoppers.
Customers will soon be able to order delivery service from an app and have goods flown to their front door.
The delivery service provider is Wing, and its employees have been running practice trials recently to iron out the logistics.
Greg Allbright is a Little Elm resident who decided to volunteer for Wing’s practice runs.
“We fly drone all the time. So eventually we knew this would happen.” he said. “Knowing we’re here at the beginning of that future to be able to see is what got us excited and wanting to get involved.”
After a customer places an order on the app, the retailer is notified, and within minutes, the order is filled and sent off using a drone. On December 2, Greg Allbright ordered a bottle of water using Wing’s app, and within six minutes, the bottle was delivered to his driveway.
The Wing drones can carry up to three pounds, move at 65 mph, and travel 150 feet off the ground. The goal is to deliver the items within ten minutes. The drone will hover 23 feet above the ground and use a tether to lower the product onto the ground. The tether then retracts, and the drone flies back to its service area.
“It allows small businesses to expand their reach,” said Jacob Demmitt, a representative for Wing. “It’ll go through that progression from being scared that it’s going to drop on their house to ‘I’ve got to have this every day, I’ve got to order stuff every day.”
Wing will continue to conduct tests as they wait for final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to take to the skies in North Texas. Once the FAA approves their Part 135 Air Carrier certificate, Wing says that delivery will be free in its initial phase.
They expect the drone delivery service to be available to the public in coming months.