Walmart is among the many companies exploring how drone deliveries can help it better serve its customers. The method is a safe, convenient, and fast solution to getting on-demand parcels delivered to people backyard within minutes. The company recently announced a new pilot with the end-to-end drone delivery company Flytrex in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The trial will involve select household essential and grocery items from Walmart stores being delivered to households within a 3.5-mile radius using Flytrex’s automated drones. Packages can weigh up to 6.6 pounds (3 kg). The aircraft is controlled over the cloud (remotely) using a smart and easy control dashboard. Data will be gathered on associate and customer experience – from picking and packing to takeoff and delivery – to help the company gain valuable insight and improve the process in any way possible.
Tom Ward, Senior Vice President, Customer Product, Walmart, said in a press release:
We know that it will be some time before we see millions of packages delivered via drone. That still feels like a bit of science fiction, but we’re at a point where we’re learning more and more about the technology that is available and how we can use it to make our customers’ lives easier. Take for example our autonomous vehicle work with Gatik, Ford, and Nuro – we’ve gained loads of valuable insight into how autonomous vehicles fit within our business.
At the end of the day, it’s learnings from pilots such as this that will help shape the potential of drone delivery on a larger scale and, true to the vision of our founder, take Walmart beyond where we’ve been.
Flytrex drones deliver packages using a wire release mechanism, which drops orders down gently while hovering eighty feet in the air. They reach a household in a fraction of the time it takes for conventional on-road delivery because they cruise 32mph at 230 feet where there’s no traffic or other impediments. Furthermore, the navigation system uses GPS and sensors only; no cameras are used to ease people’s privacy concerns.
For now, drones from Walmart will only be delivered in rural areas. So, you won’t be seeing drones buzzing over busy city streets.
Another big company that recently announced the launch of drone delivery trials is Tesco in Ireland. Also, in Dublin, a company is delivering food with drones. However, Amazon‘s been working on the idea long before either one of these companies. There have also been several other smaller companies worldwide, using drones to deliver things to hard to reach places. For example, the French postal service has been using them to deliver packages in the alps, a Japanese company has been using them to provide fresh seafood, and medical supplies are being delivered to the Isle of Wight as well as remote regions in Africa.
