CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Drones might be dropping off your next meal.

What You Need To Know

  • Wing and DoorDash launched Charlotte’s first-ever drone food delivery program
  • DoorDash users who live within four miles of the Arboretum Shopping Center can utilize the service
  • Drone deliveries have also popped up in other parts of North Carolina, such as Holly Springs and Raeford

It’s already happening in Charlotte, where DoorDash is partnering with Wing, a drone delivery company.

Mark and Amy DeLoach were among the first people to get a special delivery from the sky.

“It’s like from the 'Jetsons',” Amy DeLoach said.

“To be able to get things as quickly as we’ll be able to get through drone service… just the convenience and the speed of it,” Mark DeLoach said.

The service launched in May at the Arboretum Shopping Center in south Charlotte. DoorDash users who live within four miles of the shopping center will be able to place small orders from several restaurants there.

The drones can fly up to 65 mph and can even fly in light rain and windy conditions, according to Jesse Suskin with Wing.

Paul Herndon is the president of American Asset Corporation, which is the company that runs the shopping center. He thinks the drones will help boost business and alleviate some traffic.

“You have just as bad of traffic as you have in Dallas, where [Wing] have their other drone facilities,” Herndon said. “So, that DoorDash driver… how many stop lights do they have to go through? Is traffic moving at that time [of delivery] or not? So, the value [of the drones] — you can really see.”

DoorDash says the drones aren’t meant to replace delivery drivers. Rather, it’ll allow them time to handle more complicated orders.

“ATMs didn’t replace bank teller jobs,” Harrison Shih with DoorDash said. “It actually exploded the number of bank tellers, because it made the service more available.”

Drone deliveries have also popped up in other parts of North Carolina. For example, another company, Flytrex, is shipping food by air in Holly Springs and Raeford.

Back in south Charlotte, the DeLoaches seem optimistic about the future of food delivery.

“It’s going to be faster,” Amy DeLoach said. “It’s going to be more convenient, and it’s just a great benefit to the neighborhood.”

Suskin said Wing is focused on the Charlotte area currently but plans to grow the drone program “piece by piece” in the future.