A company known as Wing, owned by the parent company of Google, Alphabet, has become the first official drone delivery firm in Virginia, with packages already being delivered locally within minutes of ordering.
Drone deliveries are finally becoming a reality, with the first official delivery service being a Google affiliate known as Wing. Wing is another company owned by Google’s parent firm — Alphabet.
According to recent reports, the company started using drones this Friday to deliver FedEx and Walgreens purchases. Deliveries were done as part of a test run in a Virginia town.
Wing became the first drone firm to receive federal approval for making drone-based deliveries in the US, which allowed it to beat Amazon’s Prime Air. Amazon Prime Air originally announced its plans to start using drones back in 2013.
Furthermore, earlier in October, UPS also received an approval do launch delivery drones by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the company also started running delivery tests in partnership with WakeMed’s hospital campus.
Wing, on the other hand, partnered up with a gift shop called Sugar Magnolia, as well as FedEx and Walgreens, and it started conducting its tests in Christiansburg, Virginia. According to recent information, Walgreens’ customers will be able to order over 100 items that can be delivered via drones in only a few minutes from the moment of purchase.
The first delivery included cough medicine from Walgreens. Wing drones also started delivering FedEx packages, with the first delivery from this firm being to a family who ordered a package from Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Initially, the drones will deliver goods within a radius of 6.5 kilometers from Wing’s distribution facility. However, the company claims that they can cover a 19-kilometer round trip and that they will widen the radius at some point in the future.
Of course, Wing already did tests in the past, but Friday deliveries were the first official use of drones for delivering packages to actual consumers. According to Wing CEO, James Ryan Burgess, the use of drones will leave fewer delivery trucks on the roads, which will be a good thing for the environment.
What do you think about drone deliveries? Are you excited about the new technological breakthroughs in this area? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
Images are courtesy of Shutterstock.
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