DoorDash Is Building Its Own Drone Delivery Business
- Reference: 0184753708
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/07/29/181218/doordash-is-building-its-own-drone-delivery-business
- Source link:
> [I]t will likely begin with limited pilot programs in which the unmanned aircraft will travel short distances while remaining within the line of sight of the operator. If DoorDash wants its drones to fly autonomously over longer distances, it will need the FAA to approve its Beyond Visual Line of Sight technology, a certification that companies like Amazon, Wing, and Zipline have received in recent years.
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> Despite the new program, the food and grocery delivery company is maintaining its [3]existing partnerships with Wing and Flytrex. DoorDash partnered with Alphabet's Wing in 2022 for a drone delivery program in Australia, and later expanded the partnership to a couple of U.S. cities, including Dallas-Fort Worth, in 2024.
[1] https://about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doordash-air
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/doordash-is-building-its-own-drone-delivery-business/
[3] https://ir.doordash.com/news/news-details/2024/DoorDash-and-Wing-Announce-Drone-Delivery-Pilot-in-the-US/default.aspx
Looking forward to this. (Score:2)
Can't be any worse than their current drivers that literally can't find a building that has the number on the front in three foot tall digits.
"Where are you located?"
"Did you see the building that thad the giant 526 on the front?"
"oh, it took me to a different building"
No it didn't you numbskull, you were driving 60mph down a city street and just assumed it was the biggest building in front of you.
Anyone else tired of being experimented on? (Score:2)
Now these are probably not unmanned. Like those little food delivery robots and the wemo's they are most likely going to be remote controlled from overseas.
Personally I'm not terribly thrilled with the idea of dozens of little robots flitting about my neighborhood remote control over it internet by the lowest bidder from a foreign country.
Not that any of us get any say in anything anymore. About 37% of the population has given up and just said the Epstein class can do pretty much anything they want
I hope not! (Score:2)
> ... DoorDash Air, an in-house drone-delivery program ...
If I were to use such a service, I'd want the drone to stop at my front door, NOT come into my house.
Besides, in-person delivery is irreplaceable. A drone can't spit in my food or drink my soda.
Destined for failure (Score:2)
These drone delivery services that have to operate in line-of sight and comply with a gazillion FAA regulations are doomed to failure. You could deliver the order faster using a trebuchet over such distances and with fewer liabilities or costs.
Manna Aero has moved to the USA for its trials because it effectively had so many problems in it's home of Ireland and Just the other day another 85lb Amazon drone crashed and burned.
Given the costs, both from a hardware, labor and systems perspective, they'll never
The most worrying thing is the noise (Score:2)
County and city noise regulations could be mostly preempted by FAA regulations as these drones are regulated by the FAA.
It is conceivable that drone deliveries could occur 24/7 and could especially be a nuisance in high density housing areas.
More of us might need to complain to Congress in this case if the FAA does nothing to address it, but that could fall on deaf ears due to the lobbying by the drone delivery companies and the current makeup of the Federal Government.
So if you've got an Airbnb in the neig
So it's a novelty delivery (Score:2)
"...unmanned aircraft will travel short distances while remaining within the line of sight of the operator."
So a person is going to operate a drone to drop a burrito on your doorstep. How exciting.
I'm pretty sure the drones that deliver drugs to the prison in which I'm currently incarcerated operates beyond visual line of sight. It must be Amazon. You can get anything on Amazon.