AUTHOR

Morgan Forde@morgan_forde_

Story by: SupplyChainDive.com

Alphabet subsidiary Wing Aviation has partnered with FedEx and Walgreens to begin commercial drone deliveries of select items to customers in Christiansburg, Virginia, next month (an exact date has yet to be released), according to a blog post.

The drones will primarily carry food, healthcare, wellness-related and convenience products, according to FedEx. Consumers can opt-in to a waitlist to receive packages by drone, but FedEx did not specify if there is an extra cost to do so.

The pilot serves as a drone delivery test-case for FedEx and Walgreens.

Vish Sankaran, chief innovation officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance, said in a statement the pilot puts Walgreens “in a unique position to capitalize on the convenience of drone delivery if and when it should expand, with approximately 78 percent of the U.S. population living within five miles of a Walgreens store.”

“Wing has spent the last seven years developing a delivery drone and navigation system for this purpose,” Wing CEO James Ryan Burgess said in a statement​.

“By delivering small packages directly to homes through the air in minutes, and making a wide range of medicine, food and other products available to customers, we will demonstrate what we expect safer, faster, cleaner local delivery to look like in the future.”

According to Wing’s website, its drones can cover six miles in roughly six minutes, lowering deliveries straight to a customer’s doorstep.

Read the full story HERE

Source and credits: supplychaindive.com / Morgan Forde@morgan_forde  / iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski