Walmart is starting to see demand pick up for its drone delivery service, as the giant retailer has expanded to 37 store-based deployment hubs in seven states and 26 municipalities, with 6,000 deliveries in 2022, an executive told attendees at NRF’s Big Show 2023 in New York.
Flytrex, an Israeli maker of delivery drones, has been awarded an FAA waiver to fly its drones over residential sections of Fayetteville, NC, en route to backyard wire drops of groceries and other items at up to 2,000 homes. They are coming from Walmart as well as local cafes and restaurants including Dairy Queen and Starbucks.
Walmart on Sept. 9 launched a second pilot drone delivery program, this time in Fayetteville, NC, using a control system from Israeli firm Flytrex, zipping grocery and household items to nearby customers. This is in addition to a program drone program Walmart launched in April in Grand Forks, ND, again with Flytrex.
Residents of a North Carolina town will be able to get meals delivered by drone as part of a limited test program sanctioned by the Federal Aviation Administration, as it takes baby steps toward broader approval of drone operations. Israeli drone service firm Flytrex is hoping the test program will expand to all kinds of deliveries, even to backyards.
You just knew Amazon wasn’t going to get shut out of a DOT sanctioned drone delivery pilot program a year ago that let in Google, a FedEx/General Electric/Intel team and Uber, and take it lying down. The ecommerce giant unveiled a bold new delivery system that’s part drone, part aircraft and part robot that uses sensors, AI and ML.
Flytrex, an Israeli company that developed a control system for automatic drone flight, may soon be helping deliver food to residents of a North Carolina town as one of 10 FAA-sanctioned test projects. As the first company to launch commercial drone delivery in Iceland, Flytrex is looking to expand the service to other countries.
New FAA rules going into effect covering drone pilot licenses could pave the way for drone delivery of ecommerce orders as early as this year, experts say. See what else is happening in the world of drone delivery.