Walmart Inc. and partner DroneUp LLC plan to expand their drone-delivery hubs to 34 locations in six states by year-end, taking a big step toward scaling up aerial dropoffs for U.S. shoppers even though big regulatory hurdles remain.
Deliveries will cost $3.99 and orders can weigh up to 10 pounds, Walmart said in a statement Tuesday. The expanded network has the potential to reach 4 million U.S. households and give Walmart the capacity to deliver 1 million packages by air in a year. But attaining those goals depends on changes to U.S. rules that now require flights to remain within a drone operator’s line of sight.
The milestone plan vaults Walmart’s partnership with DroneUp from a pilot project in northwest Arkansas to shoppers’ yards in parts of five more states: Arizona, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Tens of thousands of goods including Tylenol, diapers and hot dog buns could be eligible for drone delivery in as little as 30 minutes between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Walmart said.
