A new joint venture between Uber’s Serve Robotics sidewalk delivery drones and Alphabet’s Wing flying drone service will conduct a dual test run in Dallas, Texas in the coming months, aiming to cover areas traditional delivery services cannot reach and expedite delivery times. Serve Robotics and Wing plan to utilize a combination of sidewalk and flying drones to deliver a select number of customer orders. The challenge for drone delivery lies in the limitations of coverage, with flying drones having distance restrictions and sidewalk drones struggling in densely populated or rocky terrains. By combining the strengths of both types of drones, Serve Robotics and Wing aim to address these obstacles and enhance delivery services. Serve Robotics retrieves orders from restaurants and transports them to an “AutoLoader,” where Wing’s flying drone, capable of carrying five pounds and reaching speeds up to 65 mph, completes the final leg of the delivery. While specific details such as participating restaurants, delivery locations, and future plans remain unknown, Serve Robotics currently serves 300 restaurants in Los Angeles, and Wing collaborates with Walmart in Dallas and has partnered with DoorDash and Wendy’s in Virginia in previous pilot programs.
