DoorDash has announced the launch of its own drone delivery service, DoorDash Air. The company has received Part 135 air carrier certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), meaning it can legally operate a commercial drone delivery service in the United States.
Start with short-distance pilot projects.
However, DoorDash did not provide a specific timeline for the official deployment of its self-developed drones. The company stated that it is more likely to start with small-scale pilot projects, performing short-distance delivery tasks, and the drones will still need to remain within the operator's line of sight during flight.
If DoorDash wishes to use its drones for longer-distance autonomous flight, it will need to obtain FAA approval for "beyond visual line of sight" (BVR) technology. In recent years, Amazon, Wing, and Zipline have all obtained this type of certification.
Existing cooperation will not be interrupted.
At this stage, DoorDash will continue its drone delivery partnerships with existing partners. The company started a project with Alphabet's Wing in Australia as early as 2022, and expanded the partnership to some cities in the United States, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in 2024.
DoorDash Labs Unified Scheduling
This new business is being developed by DoorDash Labs, the same team that develops Dot, the automated sidewalk delivery robot. DoorDash will launch Dot in September 2025, and it is currently operational in Phoenix suburbs including Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, and Chandler in Arizona, as well as Fremont, California.
DoorDash management believes that drones and sidewalk robots are not independent projects, but rather part of a larger delivery network. The company aims to integrate different delivery methods into a single system, determining whether a human rider, robot, or drone will complete the delivery based on order details.
Stanley Tang, co-founder and chief product officer of DoorDash, stated that the company's motivation for developing automation technology is not simply to pursue new hardware, but to solve real-world delivery problems. According to him, the truly crucial element is not just the drones or robots themselves, but also the scheduling software behind them.
Tang stated that DoorDash Labs has developed a software system called the Autonomous Delivery Platform to coordinate human delivery drivers, Dot robots, and future drones. This system combines route, distance, and real-time conditions to determine the most suitable delivery method.
