Walmart expands drone delivery operations to Florida
Walmart expands drone delivery operations to Florida
Jasmine FernándezWed, August 5, 2026 at 4:06 PM UTC
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Walmart Walmart and Alphabet-owned Wing are expanding their drone delivery operations to Florida, reaching more than 50,000 homes, apartments and local businesses in the Greater Orlando area (Wing)
Central Florida residents can now receive retail items in less than 30 minutes through a new drone delivery operation launched by Walmart and Alphabet-owned Wing in the Greater Orlando area.
The service currently operates out of Walmart stores in Apopka and Clermont, reaching more than 50,000 homes, apartments and local businesses.
“We measure success in minutes saved and life made a little easier in Central Florida,” Heather Rivera, Wing’s chief business officer, said in a company news release. “Whether it’s helping a family grab a quick lunch without loading everyone into the car, or delivering sunscreen to a visitor at their vacation rental, we want drone delivery to be a simple, seamless part of daily routines.”
Drones involved in the program travel at speeds of up to 60 mph and lower packages to the ground using a tether mechanism. The aircraft can carry payloads of up to 2.5 pounds, with plans to increase that capacity to five pounds.
Walmart plans to add three additional Central Florida locations to the system in the coming weeks, covering stores in Ocoee, Haines City and a second location in Clermont.
The launch forms part of a broader national agreement between Walmart and Wing that aims to cover more than 270 store locations nationwide by 2027, as reported by Retail Dive. Future target markets include Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Memphis, New Orleans and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Greg Cathey, senior vice president of e-commerce fulfillment transformation at Walmart, said in a June news release that the service helped meet growing consumer demand for fast, convenient delivery of daily essentials.
“Customers expect their orders on their terms, delivered with speed and ease,” Cathey said. “Expanding into new markets with Wing allows us to provide an innovative delivery option for customers, utilizing our vast store network to make everyday shopping and fulfilling last-minute needs just a little bit easier.”
Wing selected the Orlando area as its first Florida market because of its expanding population base and high volume of visitors.
The move marks a return to drone logistics in the state for Walmart. The retailer previously offered drone fulfillment in the Orlando and Tampa areas through a partnership with DroneUp starting in 2022. That arrangement ended in late 2024, as reported by Axios, and Wing is taking over fulfillment at two of the locations previously serviced by DroneUp.
Source: “AOL Money”
