APOPKA, Fla. – A portion of an Apopka Walmart parking lot is now serving as a runway for a new kind of delivery service — one that bypasses Central Florida roads and carries customers’ orders through the sky.
Walmart and drone operator Wing launched their first Florida delivery service Wednesday, giving eligible customers near participating stores the option of receiving thousands of smaller everyday items by drone in 30 minutes or less.
The companies are initially launching the service from two Walmart locations in northwest Greater Orlando, including the Walmart Supercenter at 1700 South Orange Blossom Trail in Apopka. Wing representatives said three additional Central Florida locations are expected to begin operating in the coming weeks.
Customers generally need to live within four or five miles of a participating Walmart to qualify. They can check their address and place an order through either the Wing app or the Walmart app, according to Tom Kuhn, Wing’s global head of communications.
How the drone deliveries work
Eighteen drones were positioned at Wing’s Apopka hub on launch day. Kuhn said all 18 could be sent out at the same time if the company received enough orders.
When an order is ready, a Walmart worker brings the package to the drone hub and attaches it to a tether hanging beneath the aircraft. The drone pulls the package upward, calculates its route and flies directly toward the customer’s home.
“These drones are highly autonomous, which means that the drone itself is setting its own course,” Kuhn said. “It’s reserving airspace.”
Wing says the drones can travel at speeds of up to 60 mph. Once the drone reaches the delivery location, it hovers roughly 20 feet above the ground and gently lowers the order using its tether. The drone does not land in the customer’s yard.
The company is marketing the service as an alternative to making another drive through Central Florida traffic for a forgotten ingredient, household item, medicine or other last-minute purchase.
“A 30-minute drive is now an under five-minute flight for small items that we can deliver really quickly by drone,” Kuhn said. “It gets cars off the road, and it saves time.”
Kuhn said the drones also avoid red lights and do not make the multiple stops associated with some traditional delivery routes.
“We’re flying directly, as the bird flies, to your residence,” Kuhn said. “You’re going to know down to the second when that’s going to arrive, and you can plan your day because you know it’s going to get there in 30 minutes or less every time.”
Shoppers see convenience — but also concerns
Orlando resident Brittany Nilsen said she would use the service, particularly if it meant avoiding a shopping trip with her children.
“Oh, absolutely,” Nilsen said when asked whether she would consider ordering by drone. Her reason was simple: “Convenience.”
“It saves me from having to take all of them out,” she added, referring to her children.
Nilsen said forgetting an item after a trip to the store happens to her regularly.
“My kids overstimulate me, and then I forget things,” she said. “That’s why I write everything, and even still, when I write everything, I still forget.”
She also believes drone delivery could be particularly useful for older residents, people who use wheelchairs and customers without access to a vehicle.
“The positives would have to be the convenience for the people that are elderly, have no vehicle,” Nilsen said.
However, she acknowledged that the service could bring concerns into neighborhoods that have not experienced routine drone traffic.
“The negative would probably just be the noise,” Nilsen said. “And some people are really skeptical about the cameras.”
Nilsen said the sound would likely be the most noticeable change for people living beneath the delivery routes.
“I think the noise would be the biggest factor, being like, ‘OK, well, yeah, that’s something different,’” she said.
How loud are the drones?
Wing acknowledges that the aircraft produce a distinctive sound.
“The noise is different. It’s new,” Kuhn said. “In a lot of communities, it’s actually less noise than a lawnmower in terms of decibels, but it’s a slightly different pitch.”
Kuhn said Wing uses custom propellers designed to reduce noise and help the drones blend in with other neighborhood sounds. He also said residents in communities where Wing has operated for a longer period appear to become accustomed to it.
“The first time you notice it, like, ‘Oh, that’s a different noise,’” Kuhn said. “By the second, third, fourth time you’re getting an order, you don’t even know that it’s there, and it doesn’t disturb a conversation you’re having.”
Apopka resident Tyler Mrowczynski compared the sound to other temporary neighborhood disruptions.
“Same thing I think about a police siren going by or a fire truck going by or someone blasting their system going by,” Mrowczynski said. “I really don’t care.”
Still, Mrowczynski had numerous questions about how the autonomous technology works, where packages are left, how much weight the drones can carry and what would happen if nobody were home when the delivery arrived.
He said he could see potential benefits, but also possible problems.
“How are they getting flown?” Mrowczynski asked. “Is it somebody flying it? Is it based on a route? How is it getting done?”
After learning the flights are highly autonomous, Mrowczynski raised concerns about accidents.
“There’s no one driving it,” he said. “I don’t know what goes on behind the wheel when no one’s behind it.”
Mrowczynski also said new technology requires people and companies to take a chance.
“I want us to progress in technology and to be a better society,” he said. “It all takes a step. If you don’t want to take the step to try to succeed, to try to advance, then what’s the point?”
Despite that openness to technological progress, he said he probably would not personally use the service.
“Honestly, probably not,” Mrowczynski said. “It depends if I could do it my own way with my own thing, but probably not.”
Asked why, he responded: “It’s too technical.”
What happens if a drone has a problem?
Kuhn said the drones were designed with several layers of safety and redundancy.
The aircraft are made primarily from lightweight foam similar to the material used in bicycle helmets. They also have multiple propellers and continuously monitor their own operating condition during each flight.
“If something is wrong, the drone senses that, and it will gently lower itself to the ground in a place where there are no people and no cars,” Kuhn said.
He said a drone experiencing a problem could aim for an unoccupied field, tree or another location away from people and traffic.
“We’ve built it knowing that we have to be safe in order to work as a business,” Kuhn said.
If the drone can safely complete its delivery or return to the charging station, Kuhn said it will attempt to do so. If it cannot, the aircraft will alert Wing employees and lower itself to the ground.
Can the drones fly in Florida weather?
Kuhn said the drones can operate in some wind and rain, but the company will suspend deliveries during more severe conditions.
“If it’s very stormy — if a plane’s not going to take off from MCO — we’re also not going to be delivering by drone,” Kuhn said. “There are certain limits, but we can fly in most any weather that we’re going to see.”
Weather could become an important operational question in Central Florida, where thunderstorms, heavy rain, lightning and strong wind can develop quickly during the summer.
Can residents opt out?
Customers are not required to use drone delivery. Kuhn said residents who do not want a drone delivery can simply avoid selecting the service.
“Our aircraft will not come to your house if you don’t place an order,” Kuhn said.
However, Wing did not describe a separate process allowing noncustomers to prevent a drone from passing near or over their property while traveling to another eligible home.
That distinction could become more significant as the service expands and drones become a more common sight above Central Florida neighborhoods.
Wing plans to expand
Wing says the Apopka operation is part of a broader expansion involving Walmart stores across the country.
“We’re really excited to be here in Central Florida,” Kuhn said. “We’ve got two Walmart sites coming live today. We’ve got three more coming in a few weeks, and we’re going to continue to grow into new communities.”
Kuhn said the company expects drone delivery to expand into additional markets over the coming months and years.
“The more communities that see it, the more communities want it,” he said.
For Wing and Walmart, the launch demonstrates that the technology is ready to operate.
The larger test will be whether Central Florida residents decide that avoiding traffic and receiving an order within minutes outweigh the noise, safety and privacy questions that come with having autonomous drones flying above their neighborhoods.