Walmart eyes drones to deliver COVID-19 tests
Walmart has teamed up with an aerial drone company to use drones to deliver self-administered COVID-19tests.
CHEEKTOWAGA » Having items delivered to your home by a remote- controlled drone may be closer than you think. Rather than pizzas, however, it might start with COVID-19 tests being delivered to your front door.
Retail giant Walmart has teamed up with an aerial drone company, DroneUp, and Quest Diagnostics to use drones to deliver self-administered COVID-19 tests to people who live in this Buffalo suburb.
The program, first reported in t he Buffalo News, i s experimental, and limited to single-family homes within a mile of a Walmart store there. The drones can drop off the swab test kits on someone’s driveway or f ront walk – wherever they request it – and the user then mails in the test after taking it.
“It’s a pilot program,” said A my Wiegand, spokeswoman for the Virginia-based DroneUp del ivery company that is working with Walmart on the system.
The program started Monday and it’s the second of its kind after a similar one began in North Las Vegas, Nevada, in September.
Wiegand said the drones only deliver within a mile of the Walmart store and they use observers on the ground to actually watch the unmanned vehicles fly.
They use the DJI Inspire drone, which Wiegand said is a leading brand.
Before starting, they obtained a Federal Aviation Administration waiver because the store is near Buffalo’s airport. And while drones like these are typically allowed to fly at 400 feet, these are limited to 200 feet, said Wiegand.
Walmart officials didn’t return a request for comment on the program on Thursday.
But Tom Ward, the company’s senior vice president for customer products, said on their blog that “We hope drone deliver y of self- collection kits will shape contactless testing capabilities on a larger scale and continue to bolster the innovative ways Walmart plans to use drone delivery in the future.”
Factors l i ke population density, terrain and the market of a given area typically go into deciding where to test drone usage.
Wiegand noted that the drones are grounded in bad or windy weather.
The program may be an example of how the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing drone technology and usage forward, said John Robbins, an associate professor of aeronautical sciences at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“It is kind of a driver, a catalyst for moving some of these things along,” said Robbins.
Other large retailers including Amazon and FedEx also are working to develop drone delivery systems that may work especially well during a pandemic.
By Rick Karlin Times Union CHEEKTOWAGA — Having items delivered to your home by a remotecontrolled drone may be closer than you think. Rather than pizzas, however, it might start with COVID-19 tests being delivered to your front door.
Retail giant Walmart has teamed up with an aerial drone company, DroneUp, and Quest Diagnostics to use drones to deliver self-administered COVID-19 tests to people who live in this Buffalo suburb.
The program, first reported in the Buffalo News, is experimental, and limited to single-family homes within a mile of a Walmart store there. The drones can drop off the swab test kits on someone’s driveway or front walk – wherever they request it – and the user then mails in the test after taking it.
“It’s a pilot program,” said A my Wiegand, spokeswoman for the Virginia-based DroneUp del ivery company that is working with Walmart on the system.
The program started Monday and it’s the second of its kind after a similar one began in North Las Vegas, Nevada, in September.
Wiegand said the drones only deliver within a mile of the Walmart store and they use observers on the ground to actually watch the unmanned vehicles fly.
They use the DJI Inspire drone, which Wiegand said is a leading brand.
Before starting, they obtained a Federal Aviation Administration waiver because the store is near Buffalo’s airport. And while drones like these are typically allowed to fly at 400 feet, these are limited to 200 feet, said Wiegand.
Walmart officials didn’t return a request for comment on the program on Thursday. But Tom Ward, the company’s senior vice president for customer products, said on their blog that “We hope drone delivery of self- collection kits will shape contactless testing capabilities on a larger scale and continue to bolster the innovative ways Walmart plans to use drone delivery in the future.”
Factors l i ke population density, terrain and the market of a given area typically go into deciding where to test drone usage.
Wiegand noted that the drones are grounded in bad or windy weather.
The program may be an example of how the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing drone technology and usage forward, said John Robbins, an associate professor of aeronautical sciences at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“It is kind of a driver, a catalyst for moving some of these things along,” said Robbins.
Other large retailers including Amazon and FedEx also are working to develop drone delivery systems that may work especially well during a pandemic.