Supermarket shopping might just be a case of keeping an eye on the sky if you’re in Australia’s north, as drone shopping deliveries take flight.
Australia is showing itself to be quite an interesting testing ground for the future of deliveries, at least based on some of the activities Wing has been experimenting with over the past couple of years.
Depending on what you’re after and where you’ve lived (primarily in select communities of Queensland), you’ve been able to order a drone to deposit food at your home, lowering something yummy to your property without having to drive out and set foot in a shopping centre.
Much like how Deliveroo and Uber both offer a way to get food to your door without you needing to leave the home, Wing has been doing the same in parts of Queensland, and it’s could get even more interesting, especially if you’re in the mood to not go out and get something yourself.
Wing has teamed up with one of the competitors to Uber and Deliver, DoorDash, for a drone delivery pilot program that will see groceries from the delivery app make its way to suburbs in South East Queensland using DoorDash Air. Eligible customers will be able to get supermarket items delivered by drone, travelling at around 110km/h using flight as opposed to the typical delivery method of car, bike, motorbike, or scooter.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen an acceleration of consumer demand for fast, contactless delivery options, and now people expect quicker, on-demand access to food, medicine, and convenience items,” said Simon Rossi, General Manager for Wing Australia.
“While Wing has traditionally provided delivery services directly to residential and business customers, to further accelerate our technology development, we’ll be increasingly working with marketplaces and logistics partners to expand their delivery options, making fast drone delivery affordable and sustainable for them, and their customers,” he said.
The concept adds one more thing that drones can deliver, though it is fairly limited in the areas it will service, specifically covering suburbs of Logan in Queensland, including Berrinba, Browns Plains, Crestmead, Heritage Park, Kingston, Logan Central, Marsden, Regents Park, and Waterford West. Wing notes more areas will see a roll out in the coming months, but that’s likely to stick to Queensland.
However, it’s another step in the direction that’ll see drones doing more deliveries across Australia, which could just mean where you live in time.
