From Google X to Wing The Future of Instant Delivery Has Arrived with Drone Technology

Updated: April 19 2025 10:59

AI Summary: Wing's drone delivery service is transforming the way goods are received by offering unparalleled speed and efficiency, addressing fundamental inefficiencies in current delivery models. With its focus on reliability, low cost, and precision, Wing has integrated its service into familiar platforms like Walmart and DoorDash, allowing users to select precise delivery locations using mapping technology. The company aims to make drone delivery as ubiquitous and unremarkable as shopping carts, representing a shift towards an environmentally sustainable, safer, and more equitable logistics system.

At the recent Abundance 2025 summit, Wing's CEO Adam Woodworth shared insights into how their drone delivery service is transforming the way we receive goods, offering unparalleled speed and efficiency that traditional delivery methods simply cannot match.



Wing was born at Google X, before Alphabet became Alphabet, as one of the first projects in the company's Moonshot factory. The concept was elegantly simple yet ambitious: solve last-mile delivery challenges through automation, specifically using drone technology. In 2018, Wing was spun out as its own company under the Alphabet umbrella and has since been advancing its delivery capabilities worldwide.

The driving force behind Wing was to address the fundamental inefficiency in current delivery models. Think about it: when you order food delivery, you're essentially commanding a 5,000-pound vehicle and human driver to transport what might be just a few ounces of product. Not only is this economically inefficient, but it also poses safety risks – driving is statistically the most dangerous activity most people engage in daily.


Unlike traditional aerospace equipment that typically increases in weight and budget over time, Wing had to create something aerospace-reliable at consumer electronics prices.


The drone itself is a marvel of engineering simplicity. Made primarily of lightweight materials like styrofoam and carbon fiber, it was designed with two key priorities, (1) Reliability first and (2) Low cost second.

Performance, while important, takes a backseat to these priorities – a departure from traditional aviation philosophy. The design combines elements of both helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, allowing it to hover like a drone but fly with the efficiency of a plane. This redundancy means if any part of the hover system fails, it can still operate as a plane, and vice versa.

One of the most ingenious aspects of the design is the tether system for package delivery. Instead of landing (which would bring the drone in proximity to people, power lines, and other obstacles), Wing drones hover above the delivery location and lower packages via a tether. And the solution to prevent someone from catching the drone by grabbing the tether? The tether simply isn't attached to the inside of the plane – it's just on a spool. If someone grabs it, the drone simply flies away, leaving the string behind.


For consumers, Wing has integrated its service into familiar platforms like Walmart and DoorDash. Users simply open these apps, and if they're in a Wing service area, they can select items available for drone delivery.

The process is remarkably straightforward:

1. Select items available for drone delivery
2. Choose exactly where on your property you want the package delivered
3. Order and wait – typically just 3-4 minutes for delivery

This precise delivery location is selected using mapping technology that determines if your property has suitable space for a delivery (basically, if you can stand on your property with your arms out and see clear sky above you, Wing can deliver there).

What truly sets Wing apart from traditional delivery services is the precision of its estimated delivery time. Rather than offering a vague window like "between noon and 5 PM," Wing can tell you your package will arrive in "3 minutes and 58 seconds" – and this countdown is accurate to the second. This level of precision is changing consumer behaviors and expectations around delivery.

Wing recognized early that for their technology to be adopted, it needed to integrate seamlessly with merchants' existing workflows. As Adam Woodworth, Wing's CEO, explained: "For the promise of this to really work, the robot needs to do all the robot stuff."

This philosophy led to the development of hardware and software that can:

• Replicate existing merchant order flows
• Automatically pick up packages without human intervention
• Connect to merchants' existing API systems

The goal is to make drone delivery not just a "cool technology" but a practical solution that actually enhances operations. Wing's success in Australia demonstrates this potential, where they've enabled businesses to offer delivery for products that wouldn't survive traditional delivery methods – like prepared hot coffee or ice cream.


Wing is rapidly scaling its operations. Currently, they operate primarily in:

• Dallas-Fort Worth area (US)
• Brisbane and Melbourne (Australia)
• Smaller operations in Virginia and the UK

Their largest operation is with Walmart, serving 18 supercenters in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. To date, they've completed approximately 450,000 deliveries, with busier stores handling 100-200 deliveries per day.


Looking ahead, Wing has ambitious growth plans. They're targeting 100 million deliveries per year by 2030, which would translate to roughly 250,000 deliveries daily – a scale comparable to established delivery services like FedEx and UPS.


One of the biggest hurdles for any aviation business is navigating regulatory frameworks. Wing operates in aviation, which as Woodworth humorously noted, follows the unofficial motto: "The FAA is not happy until you're not happy."

To operate legally, Wing had to become a certified Part 135 air carrier – essentially an airline. This required them to navigate regulations designed for human-carrying aircraft, leading to amusing scenarios like fulfilling requirements for "seatbelts" and "flight manuals on the aircraft" for their seatless drones.

The current regulatory model requires a "human on the loop" – pilots who don't actually fly the drones but monitor operations and can make fleet-wide decisions when necessary, such as during adverse weather conditions.


Wing's ultimate vision is to make drone delivery as ubiquitous and unremarkable as shopping carts – essential infrastructure that people don't even think about. As Woodworth describes it:

My dream is to get to a place where this is so ubiquitous, so commonplace, that you don't even think to look up.

The company is already seeing signs of this normalization. When they first began operating at Walmart locations, people would stop and stare at the drones. Now, planes fly overhead and nobody looks up – they've become part of the landscape.

Wing's technology isn't just about convenience – it represents a fundamental shift in how we think about transportation and logistics. By replacing car trips with drone flights, Wing is creating:

• A more environmentally sustainable delivery model
• A safer alternative to road-based delivery
• New opportunities for businesses to expand their delivery offerings
• More equitable access to goods for people without cars or in remote areas

As the technology continues to mature and expand, we're witnessing the early days of what will likely become an entirely new layer of infrastructure – an aerial delivery network that complements our existing transportation systems.