Walmart’s drones began delivering parcels to customers

The retailer will use drones to deliver products and household items. So far, only as part of a pilot project.

Delivery of orders using drones will only be carried out in a small town called Fayetteville in North Carolina. The project involves drones developed by the Israeli company Flytrex. According to official data, they could cover distances of up to 10 km, carrying almost 3 kg of cargo.

Customers process the order in the application form online orders, where they can also track the delivery. Walmart employees collect everything they need in a particular package, which is then attached to the drone. Once they reach their destination, the drone hangs in the customer’s backyard. After the latter confirms that it is ready to accept the order, the package containing the load is carefully lowered to the ground along with a cable.

“The drones, which are controlled through the cloud with a smart and easy-to-use control panel, will help us get valuable information about customers and features ranging from kitting and packaging to take-off and delivery,” wrote on his blog, commenting on the event, Tom Ward, Walmart’s senior vice president of customer service.

The pilot project, launched in Fayetteville, is expected to test all aspects of drone delivery. It is then planned to move to a larger scale. However, the company recognizes that “it will take some time before we see the millions of parcels being delivered by Drones.