The company announced in January it will offer drone deliveries across 30 municipalities in North Texas, saying it's the first time a U.S. retailer has offered drone delivery to this many households in a single market.
State of play: Axios recently tried two of Walmart's partner services, Wing and DroneUp, to see what drone delivery is like.
Both companies operate from a cordoned-off area of the parking lots at Walmart stores in Frisco and Garland.
Yes, but: We don't live within Walmart's current drone delivery zones, so we had to settle for free delivery at nearby demo locations.
What happened: We used a smartphone to place separate orders on Wing's Walmart delivery app.
A Wing employee goes into the store to grab the items from the shelves and pay at self-checkout.
Then, on a folding table near the exit, the items are put into cardboard containers, weighed and labeled.
How it works: When an order is placed, Wing's flight navigation system assigns a drone and generates a flight plan to the delivery spot, taking into account geography, weather and air traffic.
The assigned drone's propellers start automatically, and the drone rises about 25 feet, hovering while the employee, wearing a hard hat, attaches the package to a tether.
The drone recoils the tether, secures the package to the belly of the aircraft, then rises to a cruising altitude of up to 400 feet before departing.
The bottom line: When the drone arrives at its destination, it hovers at about 25 feet, then lowers the tethered package gently to the ground.
The clip releases automatically, the tether recoils, and the drone ascends and flies away.
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