Drone delivery has become increasingly integrated into the lives of Australians over the past few years.
In 2021, Alphabet’s drone service Wing completed just over 100,000 drone deliveries in Australia, and the service is continuing to pick up the pace, having already surpassed 30,000 deliveries in just the first two months of 2022. Recently, the company had its busiest week ever, making more than 1,000 deliveries in a single day – that’s a delivery every 25 seconds. With this, it has now crossed 200,000 all-time commercial deliveries across global markets, excluding its test flights.
The big round number arrives as it announces a commercial partnership with major Australian supermarket Coles that adds a further 250 items to the mix for users in Canberra and Logan. The service will deliver everything from fresh groceries, bread, snacks, convenience meals, health care products, and kitchen essentials directly to customers by drone in minutes, making it faster and easier for customers to get what they need.
Earlier this year, Wing launched a partnership with the popular Vietnamese chain Roll’d, so customers can get a Bȧnh mi or a delicious Bao via drone in minutes. It is becoming a lot easier to get a lot more things delivered by drones with other partners like Friendly Grocer offering rapid COVID-19 tests and St. John Ambulance QLD providing first aid kits.
“Integrating drone delivery into daily life isn’t just an added convenience,” Wing said in a blog post. “It holds the promise to reduce traffic congestion, accidents, and greenhouse gas emissions while growing sales for businesses, all the while giving people more time back in their busy lives. If you want a peek into that future, just look to Australia.”
