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Since it was founded in 2010, the somewhat secretive research company known as “X” has funded some groundbreaking and unusual projects. If you are unfamiliar with X, it is a subsidiary of Alphabet, which is Google’s parent company.
Of the many different projects that X and Alphabet have been involved with over the years, one of the most innovative involved a company known simply as Wing. Wing was the world’s very first drone service offering on-demand deliveries. Wing’s fleet of drones can carry packages as heavy as 2.6 lbs. The drones are used to deliver parcels like tools, household goods, medicines, and fresh foods.
Wing operates on several different continents. According to the company, Australian businesses and residents make up one of its largest customer bases. Wing completed approximately 30,000 deliveries in Australia in the first half of 2022 alone.
Recently, Wing surpassed an important milestone — its 200,000th commercial delivery. For context, it took the company about two and a half years to deliver its first 100,000 packages. Fast forward just six months, and Wing doubled that threshold.
While 200,000 drone-delivered packages is certainly a milestone worth celebrating, this industry has a long way to go before it becomes scalable enough to be used nationwide.
Wing, headquartered in California, and companies like it face an uphill battle in some nations. The United States will be a particularly difficult market to break into. This is due to the heavy regulations imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration. However, in April, it was announced that Wing would begin its first U.S. commercial service in Texas. Until trailblazers like Wing, X, and Alphabet find ways to drive meaningful policy changes, drone deliveries will continue to be used in an extremely limited capacity in the U.S.
Still, the future of drone deliveries looks quite promising. If all goes well, at this time next year Wing will be celebrating its next major delivery milestone.
Image Credit: Flystock / Shutterstock.com
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