Walmart Expands Drone Delivery in Six States

On May 24, Walmart announced that they will be expanding their drone delivery program to six new states; Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, Texas, Utah and Virginia. They expect to have about 34 new drone hubs set up by the end of the year. The drone is designed to drop items off at homes in as little as 30 minutes. Walmart partnered with DroneUp and will be investing in the company to start trial deliveries of at home COVID-19 tests. Stores that have delivery hubs will employ DroneUp’s certified pilots, who have been approved to operate under Federal Aviation Administration guidelines. This advancement in delivery technology is estimated to deliver to 4 million households and could deliver up to 1 million packages a year. Walmart has advanced this method to primarily to help with emergencies. Walmart followed Amazon’s footsteps after they launched their drone delivery in 2016.