Wing, the drone delivery company owned by Google parent company Alphabet, is unveiling a new system that allows its drones to perform pickup and delivery orders dynamically in sequence without having to report to an origin base. The capability is part of the company’s new Wing Delivery Network, a decentralized logistics system that can automatically delegate tasks to a fleet of drones in a metropolitan area.
Wing Delivery Network consists of the drones themselves, pads where drones can take off from a country as needed to charge, and Autoloader stations. Autoloaders are installed in retailer parking lots and employees can load a prepared order when it is ready. Then an available drone can lower a rope to grab it without anyone having to wait.
Wing’s CEO Adam Woodworth explains in a company blog post that Wing’s vision is to deliver packages using a secure and efficient automated logistics system that “moves packages by the millions”. He believes the industry is fixated on drone hardware and not focused on finding ways to “leverage an entire fleet for efficient delivery.” According to Woodworth, Wing views delivery as “an efficient data network” rather than a transportation system.
In a new video, Woodworth says Wing Delivery Network is “analogous to how ridesharing works, where you order a ride from the nearest source instead of waiting for a specific source to come along.” He also notes that many retailers already have collection infrastructure ready and that Autoloaders can be placed in those same spaces.
A single metro area can have multiple hubs, or places where drones can land to charge and then take off to the next pick-up point. It is faster and makes more sense for smaller loads that would otherwise be delivered by ground vehicles, often larger vehicles that are not environmentally friendly. The company’s current drones can only carry a payload of about three pounds, but it’s also working on building larger drones.
Wing recently opened command centers where personnel can track the automated drones on a map. The company currently handles deliveries in Texas, Virginia and Australia, supplying for companies such as Walgreens and Doordash.
Currently, Wing has transported about 1,000 packages per day in a working area of ​​more than 100,000 people. Wing plans to roll out parts of the new delivery network over the next 12 months, saying it will handle “tens of millions of deliveries” for millions of people for cheaper than ground deliveries by mid-2024.
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