Walmart Is Bringing Drone Deliveries To 1.8 Million More Texas Households (theverge.com) 30
In the coming months, Walmart will be expanding its drone delivery program in Texas to reach an 1.8 million additional households in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The expansion will be completed within the year. The Verge reports: The retailer says its drone deliveries now cover 75 percent of the population in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, all thanks to partnerships with drone startups Wing and Zipline. Walmart launched its drone delivery program with Zipline and DroneUp in Arkansas in 2021 before expanding it to more states in 2022. The newly expanded service in Texas allows customers living within 10 miles of a participating Walmart to get items delivered to their homes via drone.
Since there is a weight limit, customers can only have smaller products like cold medicine, birthday candles, and even a carton of eggs delivered. Walmart says deliveries arrive in 30 minutes or less, with some reaching customers' doorsteps in as fast as 10 minutes. In 2023, Walmart partnered with Wing, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, to deliver to 60,000 more homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from two different stores. But this marks its biggest expansion yet, adding 30 more towns and municipalities within the Texas metroplex. The program also now uses drones from both Wing and Zipline to make deliveries in the area, both of which are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly drones "without a dedicated observer being able to see the drone at all times." You can check to see if deliveries are available for your address on the Wing and Zipline websites.
Since there is a weight limit, customers can only have smaller products like cold medicine, birthday candles, and even a carton of eggs delivered. Walmart says deliveries arrive in 30 minutes or less, with some reaching customers' doorsteps in as fast as 10 minutes. In 2023, Walmart partnered with Wing, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, to deliver to 60,000 more homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from two different stores. But this marks its biggest expansion yet, adding 30 more towns and municipalities within the Texas metroplex. The program also now uses drones from both Wing and Zipline to make deliveries in the area, both of which are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly drones "without a dedicated observer being able to see the drone at all times." You can check to see if deliveries are available for your address on the Wing and Zipline websites.
So which is more effective to get free stuff? (Score:3)
A shotgun or a directed microwave beam?
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Try GPS spoofing the delivery address, like the Iranians do [wikipedia.org].
Re: So which is more effective to get free stuff? (Score:2)
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Texas seems like the last state I would ever launch a service like this in.
Walmart brings drone debris to Texas. (Score:2)
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A shotgun or a directed microwave beam?
You're thinking "shotgun" because you see Texas. But in Dallas/FW, those drones are more likely coming down via Gangstas and their AK's. Same for Houston.
Property prices (Score:2)
Re: Property prices (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Property prices (Score:1)
Profitability is also a concern, but Walmart might see this as a
Self-checkout lanes (Score:2)
This is going to end up like self checkout at the store.
Self checkout reduced the need for checkout clerks, but stores had to add workers to help you when the self checkout doesn't scan correctly, you get confused, or if you walk out without scanning everything.
Sure, this reduces to need for delivery drivers, but do you really think the drones will be fully autonomous, or will there be a video link to a drone operator?
Gimmick that isn't going to simplify or reduce costs of anything.
And get off of m
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Gimmick ... get off of my lawn!
I dunno.
When you have a headache, don't want to drive anywhere, and you want the pills NOW!
When you forgot to buy the candles for the birthday cake like you promised and the wife is already on the way home...
I assume drones are cheaper/greener than delivery people for snacks.
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Self checkout reduced the need for checkout clerks, but stores had to add workers to help you when the self checkout doesn't scan correctly, you get confused, or if you walk out without scanning everything.
Which is why stores, including Walmart, are rethinking self-checkout [cnn.com]. Too much stolen goods, misidentified items, scanning doesn't always work correctly, and the need for staff to undo mistakes or fix the system.
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"This is going to end up like self checkout at the store."
Maybe where you are they don't work well, but from what I've seen self checkouts are working great. One or two "cashiers" monitoring a dozen or so checkouts seems to work pretty well. In comparison to a standard checkout where one idiot can bring one of a handful of lanes to a complete standstill, with self checkouts even if there are a few idiots who can't scan a barcode and shove a credit card in a slot their impact is limited to a fraction of th
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TX is Dereg Country, you can shit on your neighbor in the name of "freedom". Freedump?
And thousands more Texans rejoiced (Score:2)
That skeet-shooting training finally starts to pay off!
Or what we Texans call it... (Score:2)
Not exactly setting the world on fire (Score:3)
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for this to really take off.
Punny!
Think about it.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Google claims to have made over 100,000 drone deliveries in Australia -- and hasn't earned a single cent of revenue, let alone profit.
Google is not a charity. It is not a philanthropic organization and all the "free" services it offers actually have an angle where YOU become the product.
Now consider what Google has to gain by giving away "free" drone delivery...
Will it be using its overflying drones to gather intelligence for marketers? "I see that number 25 willow street has a new swimming pool... let's target them with ads for pool chlorine and accessories" perhaps?
The even more likely situation is that Google (which is primarily an online serivce company) is gearing up to launch a UTM (unmanned traffic management system) that is an air-traffic control system for drones. The FAA has already indicated that this is how they see the future -- a UTM that controls and authorizes all drone traffic in the skies over our heads. Google look to be creating a perceived need for such a system and will likely come in as "the most experienced in drone traffic management" with their pitch to be the company that then controls the keys to the sky for all drones.
The provision of that service could be a *real* money-maker for Google (or Amazon, which is in the same position).
Don't be fooled into thinking that Google or Amazon want to be in the drone delivery business, they don't. They realize that just like back in the gold-rush days, the *real* money isn't in prospecting, it's in providing the critical infrastructure those prospectors need (ie: shovels, pans, food, etc). He who holds the keys to the skies holds the keys to the industry's wallets.
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Agreed - Google bought Wing because it's developing drone hardware and the software to control them. Drone delivery is a minor/tiny application compared to what larger drones of similar kind can be used for:
https://blog.wing.com/2022/07/... [wing.com]
Drones are really good at surveillance. Just like Reaper drones, these can be used to provide the same information that news helicopters do without all the expense of owning/maintaining a helicopter. They can fly over private property and send all kind of data back to goo
Regulate!! (Score:2)
Regulators
we regulate any stealing of his property
and we damn good too
But you can't be any geek off the street
gotta be handy with the steel if you know what I mean, earn your keep!
-Warren G
Or something like that.
Optimize the drones (Score:2)
Single use, ballistic drones would most likely be best for Texas.
Tiill it drops on a kid or pet (Score:2)
Fuck drone delivery (Score:2)
flying machines (Score:2)
Air Traffic Control? (Score:2)
And what agency is going to be doing air traffic control for these drones? Especially when we get multiple players in a market.
The first time one of these lands on someone and their hair gets tangled up in the propellers, that will be the end of. That or the HOAs sue over property values with all of the drones flying everywhere.