The future is here! And in so many ways, it kinda sucks. A new graphics card costs more than a mortgage payment because billionaires are sucking up all the GPUs to boil the planet and make Hayao Miyazaki cry at the same time, and I still don’t have a Marty McFly hoverboard. But at least I can order fast food that literally flies to my door. That’s nice.
In fact, I could order a flying curry delivery if I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina—specifically, within four miles of the Arboretum Shopping Center—where DoorDash is now offering food deliveries via drone. You can choose from a limited selection of local eateries, including Panera Bread, Matcha Cafe Maiko, and Joa Korean. The latest expansion is part of a partnership with drone delivery company Wing. Deliveries are also available in tiny slices of Dallas-Fort Worth and southwest Virginia, after a pilot (ha!) program in Logan City, Australia.
Wing’s drones are autonomous, according to the press release, needing no human pilots. The drones are pretty beefy, too. Promotional photos show a design with no less than 16 propellers spread across two struts and two wings, and it tucks the fast food package up underneath the main body. The bags are loaded by humans while the drone is airborne, and the food is then lowered down on an extensible cable at the destination so the drone doesn’t need to land. It’s pretty neat, though I can think of a lot of ways it could go wrong.
If you happen to live in Charlotte, NC (or the other introductory locations), you can check to see if your address is in the service area on Wing’s website. DoorDash is offering a $1 bowl of Panera mac and cheese for anyone who tries it out in the new area.