Charlotte drone delivery expands to the suburbs for grocery, restaurant orders
More delivery drones are taking off in the Charlotte region to bring meals to hungry residents or save them trips to the store.
Wing, a service owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., expanded on Wednesday with a second “nest” (or hub) in the region. This one is in Huntersville at the Northcross Shopping Center. It offers DoorDash delivery to homes in about 20 minutes.
The service launched in May at the Arboretum Shopping Center off Providence Road. It’s the region’s first home delivery service by drone. The small aircraft are stored, charged and released behind a fence in the center’s parking lot.
Lightweight autodrones make deliveries within a 6-mile radius of the shopping center. Some of the 17 participating stores and restaurants include Smoothie King, Firehouse Subs, Panera Bread and Walmart, according to the Arboretum website.
With the second nest, Wing and DoorDash can now deliver to more than 30,000 households with a selection of more than 50 businesses.
A list of businesses connected with the Northcross Shopping Center was not immediately available.
Customers interested in trying the service can look for the “Drone” icon on the DoorDash homepage or visit wing.com/get-delivery to see if their address qualifies.
DoorDash sets its own prices in the DoorDash app for both locations. A cost range was not provided by a Wing representative.
Walmart customers await drones to take flight
Last June, Walmart became the second company to contract with Wing for Charlotte after DoorDash. The retail giant is planning to operate the service in the University City area at 7735 N. Tryon St.
The Walmart service has not started yet, but Wing’s website indicates that it is coming soon to the city as well as to Atlanta, Houston, Orlando, Tampa, and the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
Items such as meals, groceries, household supplies, and over-the-counter medicines may be delivered by drone, according to Walkmart’s website. Items available for drone delivery are limited by weight and size.
Orders must weight 2.1 pounds or less, according to Walmart’s website. Packages must be small enough to fit into the specifically designed boxes used by the drones, such as meals, groceries, household supplies and over-the-counter medicines.
Customers can sign up on Wing’s website at wing.com/walmart to be notified when the service becomes available in their area.
