An aerial drone delivery service has started test flights from its facility at Frisco Station, just west of the Dallas North Tollway. Wing plans to eventually serve Frisco residents by delivering items from Walgreens directly to their homes.
Company employees held a town hall meeting Thursday night to provide more information to residents about the project and answer questions.
"Initially we're going to start with about a hundred over-the-counter items," said Jacob Demmett with Wing. "So over the counter medicines, food, snacks. We're starting with Walgreens, but we're going to be talking to other restaurants, bakeries and merchants."
The drones used by Wing were specifically designed for deliveries, not photography. Demmett told the audience at Thursday's meeting they were only equipped with low-resolution still-picture cameras. Those cameras are used as a backup to the drones' GPS system. "We take privacy really, really seriously," he said. The drones will travel at an average height of 150 feet at approximately 65 miles per hour.
The drones are also designed not to cause damage in the event of a collision with a person or car. "It's less than ten pounds, it's foam. It's designed to shatter," said Mark Blanks, Head of Flight Operations at Wing. "It's designed so that if any condition like that happened it would not harm a person severely."
Initial deliveries will be made to homes because the drones need an area approximately six feet by six feet to land and take off. However, the company is looking at the possibility of setting up designated delivery areas at apartment complexes or business parking lots.
Most of the drones' functions are automated and controlled by software. That allows one pilot to control several drones. "Our pilots do control more than one aircraft at a time," said Blanks. "They are looking at the system as a whole.
Customers who want to sign up for the service can download the Wing app on their smart phones or register on the company's web site.
Wing is not yet offering service to individual customers in Frisco but will notify people who register when the service becomes available.
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