  | Walgreens, Wing team for drone deliveries By TOM MURPHY Associated Press  Wing via Associated Press This photo shows a Wing delivery drone test which is part of the company’s partnership with Walgreens. |
Walgreens and a Google affiliate are testing drone deliveries that can put drugstore products on customer doorsteps minutes after being ordered.
Snacks like Goldfish Crackers or gummy bears as well as aspirin for sick kids will be delivered starting next month in Christiansburg, Va., by a 10-pound drone flying as fast as 70 miles per hour, the companies said Thursday.
100 items that includes individual consumer goods and packages of products to help with things like coughs and colds, but not prescriptions. They will place their order through a Wing app and then get delivery anywhere from five to 10 minutes afterward.
A drone capable of making a 12-mile round trip will fly to the delivery site, hover and use a winch system to lower the package to the ground and leave it there. The drone will be run by Wing Aviation LLC, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc.
“We’re taking a 10-pound aircraft to move a 3-pound package through the sky,” Wing CEO James Ryan Burgess said. “It’s very light, very efficient.”
Drone deliveries in the United States are still largely in early testing. Google announced in April that Wing received federal approval to make commercial drone deliveries. It marked the first time a company has gotten a federal drone delivery certification.
Online retail giant Amazon said in June that it plans to use self-piloted drones to deliver packages to shoppers’ homes in the coming months.
United Parcel Service Inc. also said in July that it was setting up a subsidiary to expand its drone deliveries, which are limited to transporting medical samples at a group of hospitals in Raleigh, N.C.
Burgess told reporters Thursday that Wing and Walgreens had no time frame for how long this test would take or when consumers might expect widespread drone use.
“I think we still have a ways to go before it’s the norm in our transportation network,” he said.
Walgreens and Wing picked Christiansburg for their test because Wing has been working with nearby Virginia Tech on drone deliveries.
The test comes as Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., which is based in Deerfield, Ill., and chief rival CVS Health Corp. also work to expand same-day deliveries of prescriptions and other products on the ground.
Snacks like Goldfish Crackers or gummy bears as well as aspirin for sick kids will be delivered starting next month in Christiansburg, Va., by a 10-pound drone flying as fast as 70 miles per hour, the companies said Thursday.
100 items that includes individual consumer goods and packages of products to help with things like coughs and colds, but not prescriptions. They will place their order through a Wing app and then get delivery anywhere from five to 10 minutes afterward.
A drone capable of making a 12-mile round trip will fly to the delivery site, hover and use a winch system to lower the package to the ground and leave it there. The drone will be run by Wing Aviation LLC, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc.
“We’re taking a 10-pound aircraft to move a 3-pound package through the sky,” Wing CEO James Ryan Burgess said. “It’s very light, very efficient.”
Drone deliveries in the United States are still largely in early testing. Google announced in April that Wing received federal approval to make commercial drone deliveries. It marked the first time a company has gotten a federal drone delivery certification.
Online retail giant Amazon said in June that it plans to use self-piloted drones to deliver packages to shoppers’ homes in the coming months.
United Parcel Service Inc. also said in July that it was setting up a subsidiary to expand its drone deliveries, which are limited to transporting medical samples at a group of hospitals in Raleigh, N.C.
Burgess told reporters Thursday that Wing and Walgreens had no time frame for how long this test would take or when consumers might expect widespread drone use.
“I think we still have a ways to go before it’s the norm in our transportation network,” he said.
Walgreens and Wing picked Christiansburg for their test because Wing has been working with nearby Virginia Tech on drone deliveries.
The test comes as Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., which is based in Deerfield, Ill., and chief rival CVS Health Corp. also work to expand same-day deliveries of prescriptions and other products on the ground.
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