Wing, the unmanned aerial system (UAS) division of Google, has flown 100,000 drone deliveries in two years as the company continues to test alternative last-mile delivery systems.
Of these deliveries, half have been to Logan residents in Australia where the company set up shop in April of 2019 to deliver over-the-counter medical items, coffee and food. Wing said of the 100,000 deliveries, its drones have made 10,000 coffee runs, and delivered 1,200 roasted chickens and 1,700 snack packs.
Logan, Australia, neighbors Brisbane with a population of 300,000 that includes 19 suburbs with an additional population of 110,000 people. Wing said each week it is seeing thousands of drone deliveries on-demand. In the past eight months, it has flown more than 50,000 deliveries in Logan. In the first week of August, 4,500 deliveries were ordered from residents, or about nearly once every 30 seconds during service hours.
Wing said that the project in Logan, Australia, shows that drone delivery is a viable system for medium cities that are of similar size. The company said there are hundreds of cities of similar size globally such as New Orleans, Louisiana; Manchester, England; Florence, Italy; and more. Meaning that in the future high-volume drone delivery services could be replicated in similar cities or even larger metro areas.
In the video, Wing shows some of the products it has been flying to customers in the Logan region including how the drone flies to a location and drops the product via tether to the person below. It also touts being one of the few projects in the world that is delivering in the volume it is.
