Wing drone distributes thousands of weekly orders in Austral…

Embargoed 12:01am Thursday 26, August 2021 (AEST)

Attributable to Wing spokesperson, Jesse Suskin, Head of Policy and Community Affairs:

“Logan is fast cementing its place as the drone delivery capital of the world. From Wing’s early days delivering to a small group of customers in two suburbs in 2019, we’re now making thousands of deliveries each week to 19 suburbs, with a combined population of more than 110,000 people

“Wing saw a 500% increase in worldwide deliveries from 2019 to 2020, and we’ve continued to grow at a similar rate in 2021. We completed more deliveries globally in the second quarter of 2021 than in the entire year of 2020.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in use of our on-demand drone delivery service in South East Queensland this year. Wing has already made more than 50,000 deliveries to the Logan Community in 2021, with almost 4,500 deliveries in a single week, during the most recent Queensland COVID-19 lockdown in early August. 

“We heard from a number of customers that they found on-demand drone delivery especially useful as they stayed home and relied on our contactless service to deliver the things they needed.

“In the past year, Wing customers in Logan have:

  • Ordered more than 10,000 cups of fresh barista-made coffee
  • Had more than 1,000 loaves of bread delivered to their home, saving a trip to the shops
  • Kept break time interesting as kids transitioned to remote learning, with more than 1,700 snack packs ordered for morning and afternoon tea
  • Tucked into more than 2,700 sushi rolls to beat the lunchtime cravings
  • Made more than 1,200 hot chooks fly, just in time for family dinner

“With celebrations and major events in Queensland being impacted by COVID-19 this year, we’ve also been pleased to be able to help deliver some of the joy of these moments through drone delivery. 

“In April this year, as residents were asked to stay at home in the lead up to Easter, we delivered more than 250 chocolate eggs, bunnies, and hot cross bun packs to customers in Logan. Earlier this month, as the Ekka was cancelled, we delivered more than 500 showbags, dagwood dogs, fairy floss, and strawberry ice cream to give customers a little taste of Queensland’s favourite show from home.

“Wing also provided delivery beyond residential homes for the first time in 2021. As Logan residents returned to working from the office, we started delivering to workplaces to give staff from selected local businesses access to the convenience of drone delivery at work. 

“As Wing expands over the next year, we’ll continue to improve our service’s ability to meet the needs of the communities we serve and the local businesses we support. While local businesses currently co-locate with us at our delivery facility, in the coming months we’ll be exploring new delivery models, including co-locating our on-demand drone delivery service with businesses at their premises.” 

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

About Wing

  • Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is an on-demand drone delivery service, and has made almost 100,000 deliveries direct to consumers. Available on three continents, Wing works with local businesses and major global partners to deliver food, goods, and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals via drone.
  • Drone delivery can reduce road congestion, lower emissions, and make people safer by removing cars from the road. In crises such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, our technology can provide access to critical medication, food, and other necessities. It can help limit human-to-human contact and support local businesses that are suffering from reduced foot traffic and sales.

 

Locals turned to Wing during COVID-19 

  • Wing saw a 500% increase in deliveries worldwide in 2020 over 2019, and we’ve continued to grow at a similar rate in 2021; we completed more deliveries globally in the second quarter of 2021 than in the entire year of 2020. This is a complete repeat of the second paragraph
  • Customers in Australia are ordering drone-delivered items from just over two dozen local Australian businesses (15 in Canberra, 11 in Logan).
  • Wing’s drones are custom-designed to deliver packages safely, reliably, and very quickly. Once a customer submits an order via the Wing mobile app (available on the App Store or on Google Play), our drone flies to pick up the package at our delivery facility. The drone then climbs to flying altitude and proceeds to the designated delivery destination in several minutes. Once at the customer destination, the drone slows down, hovers, descends to a delivery height of 7 metres above ground, lowers the package to the ground on a tether and automatically releases the package in the desired delivery area. The drone does not land and there is no need to unclip or assist with the delivery of the package. The drone then climbs back to cruise height and returns to Wing’s site. See how our service works in this video.

  • Our aircraft has a wingspan of about 1.5 metres, weighs about 4.8 kgs and can carry packages around 1.5 kgs at speeds of over 110 km/h. 
  • Our fastest delivery time to date, from time of order to delivery at the customer’s location is 2 minutes and 47 seconds.
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