DoorDash Launches Drone Delivery Trials in Northern California
The company aims to streamline deliveries with its new DoorDash Air program, beginning with trials alongside Chipotle and Popeyes.
Food delivery service DoorDash has unveiled its new drone delivery system, DoorDash Air, and will commence trial runs in Northern California in the coming months. This initiative marks the company's expansion into aerial delivery, following the introduction of its ground delivery robot, Dot, exactly one year prior.
DoorDash Air is described as an "end-to-end drone delivery system with infrastructure and delivery orchestration designed to scale for all local businesses." The program will partner with national restaurant chains, including Chipotle and Popeyes, for its initial trials. This move aims to address the complexities of the first and last steps in the delivery process, which DoorDash identifies as picking up an order from a kitchen and safely placing it at the customer's doorstep.
According to DoorDash, early trial runs have achieved average delivery times from the restaurant to the customer's residence in under five minutes. The company estimates that approximately 80% of typical DoorDash restaurant orders are light and small enough to be transported safely by its aircraft.
"We didn’t start with a drone and ask what would fit. We started with what people order and how local businesses actually operate, then built the entire system from there," stated Harrison Shih, head of DoorDash Air, in the company's announcement. DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang has also highlighted the company's ground-up design approach for the system on social media.
The drones are equipped with six slow-spinning propellers, and DoorDash claims their noise projection is comparable to that of a passing car at delivery height. These drones weigh under 55 pounds, notably lighter than Amazon's delivery drones, which weigh around 78 pounds and have faced noise complaints from residents in test areas.
Businesses involved in the trials expressed enthusiasm for the new delivery method. James Huang, Chief Digital Officer for Popeyes, noted that the program would allow fans to receive their food hot and fast without altering current restaurant operations. "The same crews making our chicken today just hand it off the way they always have and the drone does the rest," Huang said.
Updates to the DoorDash app will allow customers to track when their orders transition to aerial delivery. This launch follows Amazon's recent trial runs of its Prime Air drone delivery service in Texas.