The News
Lowe’s is testing drone delivery at its store in Matthews, N.C., near Charlotte. Shoppers order in the DoorDash app, and Wing, the drone company owned by Google’s parent Alphabet, flies the order to their home in as little as 20 minutes, Lowe’s said.
Each drone carries about 2.5 pounds, so the menu is short. It has more than 100 items, such as screwdrivers, painter’s tape, caulk, batteries and cleaners.
Wing had already set up a drone base in the store’s parking lot in April to deliver DoorDash restaurant orders, WBTV reported. Lowe’s only had to add its own products, five months later.
Why It Matters
Lowe’s is renting its fastest delivery option instead of building it. Each partner handles one part:
DoorDash: runs the app, the customer account and checkout.
Wing: flies the drones and holds the FAA certificate to do it.
Lowe’s: supplies the products and a store worker to hand off each order.
Lowe’s already uses DoorDash for on-demand delivery by road from more than 1,700 stores, and has since 2024. Home Depot, by contrast, built its fast delivery on its own store network.
A retailer copying this would need two things: a drone operator already flying near its stores, and products light enough to fly.
How It Works
Wing runs the same setup at Walmart stores, per DroneXL:
The base: a station about the size of a tennis court in the parking lot.
The handoff: a store worker puts the packed order into a loader, which clips it to the drone without anyone touching the aircraft.
The flight: the drone flies at about 150 feet, hovers about 23 feet above the home and lowers the package on a line instead of landing.
The range: about 6 miles from the store.
Wing’s drones carry less than those of Zipline, Flytrex or Amazon. Zipline’s carries 8 pounds, Flytrex’s 8.8 and Amazon’s 5. Wing plans to double its limit to 5 pounds.
Who Else
Lowe’s is the fifth chain or delivery app in 13 months to start or expand drone delivery with an outside operator:
Chipotle: started flying orders with Zipline in Rowlett, Texas, last August.
Little Caesars: flies two large pizzas at a time with Flytrex in Wylie, Texas.
Uber Eats: signed Zipline in August and wants to reach 1 million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029, Uber said.
Amazon and DoorDash build their own drones instead. Amazon is expanding its drone reach sixfold this year, per Supply Chain Dive. DoorDash got its own FAA certificate in July for DoorDash Air, but it still works with Wing and Flytrex, TechCrunch reported.
What’s Next
Lowe’s says the pilot could expand to more stores. How fast drone delivery spreads also depends on the FAA. Its rule for routine flights beyond the pilot’s line of sight, called Part 108, went to the White House budget office for final review in July, per Commercial UAV News. That review usually takes up to 90 days.
