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Google Wing delivery drones will next year expand its operation to Ipswich in Queensland after previously launching services in Canberra and Logan.
The business has announced a tie-up with a property group Mirvac that will see “underutilised” real estate transformed into mini fulfilment centres where the devices will also take off from.
Wing launched commercially in 2019 and currently allows for the delivery of packages that weigh less than 1.5 kilograms from a variety of shops that sell household and perishable goods, including coffees and sandwiches.
The business now conducts more deliveries in Australia than in any other country and has previously dubbed Logan the “drone delivery capital of the world”.
Its move into Ipswich follows Wing shifting from just launching its drones from its own large distribution centres to picking up packages from the roof of a Logan shopping mall.
The development was a major milestone because, previously, retailers had to co-locate with Wing rather than being able to work from their own stores.
Wing’s general manager, Simon Rossi, said “While Wing has traditionally provided delivery services directly to residential and business customers, to further accelerate our technology development and focus on what we do best, over the next few years we’ll be increasingly working with real estate and logistics partners to expand their delivery options, making fast drone delivery affordable and sustainable for them and their customers.”
The new partnership will begin with a pilot delivery from the rooftop car park of Orion Springfield Central next year.
Wing started life in 2012 as one of the first projects at the tech giant’s super-secretive research lab, Google X, alongside its augmented reality eyeglasses and self-driving cars. It launched its first trials in 2018 before starting more commercial flights the following year in both Canberra and Logan.
Once a customer submits an order via the app, the drone flies to pick up the package at the designated delivery centre before climbing to a cruise height of 45 metres and flying to the destination.
Once there, it hovers and lowers the package to the ground, automatically unclipping the parcel without assistance from the customer.
Australian Aviation print magazine featured an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at its operation last year, which Premium Content subscribers can read here. We then took another look at its evolution into delivering from retail premises in our drone In Focus digital edition.
