Walmart’s drone delivery service will soon be available to the majority of Dallas-Fort Worth residents.
Walmart has expanded its drone delivery service in DFW to include 75% of households, Fox 4 KDFW reported. With 75% of Walmart’s 120,000 supercenter products meeting the size and weight requirements for drone delivery, Walmart Innovation’s Prathibha Rajashekhar said qualified items can be delivered to households in approximately 15 minutes.
“This is a huge step forward for the industry,” said Rajashekhar, per Fox 4. “It marks the first time a U.S. retailer has offered drone delivery to this many households in a single market.”
Overall, the retail giant has expanded its drone delivery service to multiple North Texas locations, including Dallas, Lewisville, Frisco, Plano, and others, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Since the majority of Walmart products are available for air transport, Rajashekhar said residents can enjoy the drone delivery service at a minute’s notice.
“What if you needed something delivered immediately, in the next 15 minutes? For moments like that, we have been trialing drone delivery,” said Rajashekhar, per Fox 4. “One family in Texas was watching the Rangers game on their patio. What goes well with baseball, hot dogs. Like most fans, they didn’t want to leave their home. Drone delivery to the rescue.”
Despite the speed, some city officials remain cautious about the aerial delivery service.
Due to concerns around safety and noise pollution, Plano City Council members tabled a vote until late February that would have authorized certain unmanned aerial vehicle operations.
Although municipalities can regulate certain aspects of drone delivery, not all facets can be controlled through city government, according to Christina Day, Plano’s director of planning.
“There are some very specific areas that cities cannot regulate,” Day said.
“There’s preemption by the Federal Aviation Administration. Flights paths, altitude, number of flights, package content … are very much restricted, so we have been cooperating through the city attorney’s office with the attorneys from the FAA to review these standards,” she explained, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.