Walmart is taking its drone delivery service to the next level. The retail giant is expanding to five states, aiming to outpace Amazon in the race for fastest delivery. In partnership with Google’s Wing, the company will now offer drone deliveries from 100 stores in cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa.
This builds on existing programs already running in Texas and Northwest Arkansas. The service uses Wing’s beyond visual line of sight technology, reaching customers within a 6-mile radius of participating stores. The best part? Deliveries arrive in under 30 minutes.
"People all around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have made drone delivery part of their normal shopping habits over the past year," Walmart said. "Now we’re excited to share this ultra-fast delivery experience with millions more people across many more U.S. cities."
Wing CEO Adam Woodworth added, "This is real drone delivery at scale." So far, Walmart has made over 150,000 deliveries using drones since 2021, working with both Wing and another drone company, Zipline.
Zipline was the first to partner with Walmart back in 2021. They started delivering in Arkansas and later expanded. Wing joined the team in August 2023, helping to speed up drone rollouts in more areas.
But drones aren’t Walmart’s only bet on fast delivery. They’ve also launched Express Delivery, promising 30-minute drop-offs, Late-Night Delivery, and even InHome Delivery—where groceries get placed right into your fridge.
Amazon isn’t sitting still, though. Its own drone service is available in College Station, Texas, and Phoenix’s West Valley. Amazon says it’s breaking records, with over 2 billion Prime items arriving same or next day globally in early 2024. In March alone, nearly 60% of Prime orders in the U.S.’s top 60 cities arrived that fast.