DoorDash is going airborne with new drone delivery division
DoorDash is establishing an internal drone delivery division, DoorDash Air, following FAA approval for commercial operations. The company intends to design its own drones and build the necessary ground-level infrastructure to support autonomous delivery logistics.
Why it matters
By building its own hardware and infrastructure, DoorDash is positioning itself to control the entire delivery ecosystem rather than relying solely on third-party partnerships.
DoorDash is launching a new drone delivery program called DoorDash Air. The largest food delivery app in the US said that it has approval from the Federal Aviation Administration that clears the way for drone delivery in the near future.
DoorDash said it has received a Part 135 air carrier certification from the FAA that enable it to delivery small packages via drone. Other companies to receive this designation include Alphabet’s Wing, Zipline, and Amazon.
Previously, DoorDash worked with Alphabet’s drone delivery division Wing on a number of pilots in places like Dallas-Fort Worth, Virginia, and Australia. Now the company says it will deploy its own drones, designed specifically for food delivery. The drones will be designed and assembled within the company’s DoorDash Labs division, which houses its robotics and AI teams responsible for building its Dot sidewalk delivery robots.
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