Google parent company Alphabet said this week that its Wing drones has seen a “dramatic increase” in delivering food and medicines during the coronavirus pandemic in rural Virginia with more than 1,000 deliveries completed in the last two weeks as people face lockdown.
According to bloomberg.com, Wing said it is seeing customers order health and wellness items from Walgreens, including medicine, toothpaste and toilet paper, and groceries like pasta, canned foods, fruit cups and baby food.
“We’re trying to support local businesses that aren’t able to open their doors by allowing them to deliver their products directly to customers’ homes,” Wing spokesman Jonathan Bass said. “The technology is particularly useful at a time when people are homebound in many cases where the need to limit human-to-human contact is important.”
An example is a local bakery and coffee shop called Mockingbird Cafe in Christiansburg, Virginia, which is now selling 50% more pastries via Wing on one weekend than it usually sells in store.
Alphabet’s drone service sees “dramatic increase” in local deliveries of food and medicines – Urban Air Mobility News
