Walmart Expands Dallas Drone Deliveries to Millions More Texans - CNET

Walmart is expanding its drone delivery program from one pocket of the Dallas-Fort Worth area to millions of people in 30 municipalities in the area, Chief Executive Doug McMillon announced Tuesday at CES 2024. The retailer will use drone delivery systems operated by startup Zipline and by Alphabet subsidiary Wing, companies that have made hundreds of thousands of deliveries in recent years. They each recently obtained FAA clearance to fly their drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) -- in other words, out of the eyesight of a human operator -- which makes large-scale drone delivery operations more practical and economical. Delivery drones offer fast service, with Walmart packages arriving between 10 and 30 minutes after an order is placed from stores up to 10 miles away. Walmart touts the technology for people who need missing cooking ingredients, last-minute birthday gifts, over-the-counter medications or movie night snacks.