Next time you order something, you might want to look it up. The futuristic idea of delivering food from flying drones to your doorstep is becoming a reality.
Wing, a drone delivery venture owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), has been building its business since 2012. The company’s drones have made more than 400,000 deliveries in the United States, Europe, and Australia. The company is currently testing the service at facilities in Texas, Virginia, and California.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about drone delivery and next-generation aviation is that it’s a far-future technology,” Wing CEO Adam Woodworth told Yahoo Finance in an exclusive interview. “The reality is that things like this happen every day. Our recent partnerships with DoorDash and Brookfield Properties are proof of that.”
The drone cruises at an altitude of about 150 feet and travels at about 100 miles per hour. It has a wingspan of 4.9 feet and a body length of 4.3 feet. The fleet waits at charging stations called “Nests” and flies to stores when orders come in. The drone lowers its tether while hovering, allowing employees to attach the product inside the box. The cord is then spooled and the drone takes off.
Customers can track their orders in real-time, and once the item arrives, the drone lowers the tether and unclips it. Wing’s business partners pay the company a fee for each delivery.
Wing partnered with Walmart (WMT) in August 2023 and DoorDash (DASH) in December 2024 to deliver to customers near its nest. According to the company, the average flight time from a store to a home is approximately 3 minutes and 24 seconds.
“We believe that large-scale drone delivery is more like an efficient ride-sharing network than a traditional transportation system,” Woodworth said. “We believe that a drone is just a vehicle, and that what makes a drone meaningful to an organization and its customers is just as useful as the software and logistics network.”
However, there are limitations. Deliveries can only be made during daylight hours, usually between 10am and 6pm, to avoid darkness. Drones can only travel up to 12 miles round trip, and the weight of items carried cannot exceed 2.5 pounds.
Most customers are ordering what Woodworth calls “forgotten products.” “It’s that ‘oops’ moment when you get home from the store and realize Lime isn’t in your shopping cart,” Woodworth said. “You can have it delivered to your door within minutes.”
Woodworth said Wing delivered 554 limes to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2024, “enough to make 700 margaritas.”
story continues
“We have a very strong customer obsession,” Woodworth said, pointing to company data that shows customers order “at least twice a week” after experiencing drone delivery.
JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a December research note: “While Wing has received less attention from investors than other BET businesses, most often discussed in relation to Waymo, Wing could become the third alumnus to raise outside capital. We believe we continue to reach milestones of progress. ”
Anmas maintains its “overweight” rating on Alphabet and raises its price target for the company from $212 to $232, representing an approximately 20% upside. “Google’s acceleration of innovation remains very evident as we enter the new year with a number of recent significant product announcements and updates…and that explains our positive view on Google stock in 2025,” he said. “This is an important factor.”
Moor Insights and Strategy analyst Anshel Sugg is also bullish on Google, but says it’s still early days for Wing. “This shows that the company is more diverse than many of its competitors and continues to create new and interesting ways to grow its business,” Sugg told Yahoo Finance.
“Wing needs to be very cost-focused, even more so than Waymo,” he added. “For B2B transactions, consumers are likely not even aware of who is conducting the transaction, so cost sensitivity is much higher.”
Google is not alone in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles. Amazon’s (AMZN) drone delivery service, called Prime Air, launched its new MK30 drone in 2022 and recently received regulatory approval to fly it. Walmart also has a large footprint of drone deliveries.
UPS (UPS) has been operating drones for package delivery. There are also several startups in this space, including Zipline, Flytrex, and Matternet.
Woodworth said Wing aims to establish drone delivery as part of a delivery ecosystem available to customers nationwide by 2035. A report by market research firm Mordor Intelligence estimates that the drone delivery market size will reach $830 million this year and reach $2.09 billion by 2035. 2030.
Mr. Woodworth joined Wing in 2014 as a hardware engineer, served as the company’s chief technology officer, and became CEO in 2022. “Project Wing” began as an idea under Alphabet’s Research Institute focused on the Moonshot Project (known as X).
Alphabet’s “other bets” businesses that have raised capital include Waymo, Verily, Intrinsic and Isomorphic Labs. Woodworth declined to comment on Wing’s financials, but analysts told Yahoo Finance that it’s clear Wing is part of Google’s broader transportation vision. According to Pitchbook, the company received investment from ZEBOX Ventures and X Development during its incubator phase, but has not yet raised a new round.
A future capital increase would be “a sign that we feel ready to expand,” Sugg said. “They’ve been around for a while, but it feels like the next step.”
Yasmin Khorram is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow Yasmin on Twitter/X @YasminKhorram and LinkedIn. Send newsworthy tips to Yasmin: yasmin.khorram@yahooinc.com
Click here for the latest technology news impacting the stock market.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
