It seems that Australia is one step ahead of the US when it comes to drone delivery services. This month, Wing—a drone producer owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet—reached its 100,000th drone-powered delivery.
Alphabet has been testing drones ever since 2014 but opened its official drone company, i.e., Wing, in 2019. The very same year, Wing got the approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration to begin delivering packages using its drones. And on April 4, 2020, the company sent out its first coffee-carrying drone in Christiansburg, Virginia.
Today, the company operates in three countries on three continents (US, Finland, and Australia). However, more than half of Wing’s deliveries are made in Australia; more precisely, in Logan—a suburb of Brisbane.
Company officials claim that they have delivered around 10,000 cups of coffee, along with 1,700 packages of snacks, and around 1,200 roast chickens in Logan in 2020.
Part of Wing’s success is the drones’ ability to fly both as a fixed-wing aircraft and hovering copter. Plus, the packages can be lowered to the ground without needing the tiny aircraft to land.
Other companies eyeing the drone-delivery market, like Amazon, Uber, and UPS, have yet to develop a design as successful as Wing’s.
That said, timing seems to be another important ingredient of this company’s success: It came into existence just in time to offer a fast (under 10 min) delivery alternative in one of the most lockdown-affected countries in the world—Australia.
But Wing won’t be stopping in Logan: The company announced larger-scale operations in all countries they have partnerships in. So, don’t be surprised if you soon get the option to have your cup of quality CBD coffee, along with your snack subscription box, land in your front yard.
