14 DAY TRIAL // As if it wasn’t already obvious, the future is here, and things like drone delivery is becoming something that’s a lot more common some people would have imagined a decade ago.
Walmart is one of the companies that are truly committed to this way of shipping packages to customers, and this week, it announced that it’s actually bringing this delivery method to more Americans.
It’s all happening thanks to a partnership with DroneUp, with Walmart revealing it’s therefore expanding drone delivery to six new states, namely Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
Thanks to this expansion, Walmart says, it expects to use drones for the delivery of no more, no less than 1 million packages every year.
The number of packages shipped by air increasing significantly
“Participating stores will house a DroneUp delivery hub inclusive of a team of certified pilots, operating within FAA guidelines, that safely manage flight operations for deliveries. Once a customer places an order, the item is fulfilled from the store, packaged, loaded into the drone and delivered right to their yard using a cable that gently lowers the package,” Walmart explains.
The company says that DroneUp drones will also be used for other local activities, including for emergency response whenever their help is required.
“Walmart packages aren’t the only thing the drones will deliver. A core value at Walmart is to give back to the communities in which we operate, which is why as we scale our drone infrastructure, we’ll continue to influence the expansion of drone technology and enable other businesses to explore its benefits, too. This means DroneUp will offer local businesses and municipalities aerial drone solutions in areas like insurance, emergency response and real estate. For example, a local construction agency can work with DroneUp to monitor on-site job progress through aerial drone photography,” the company explained in today’s announcement.