MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA & AUSTIN, TX - Reports of Google entering the emerging grocery delivery market have been swirling throughout the past week. The search engine’s parent company, Alphabet, is reportedly considering the launch of a drone delivery service entitled Wing Marketplace, and exploring a possible partnership with Whole Foods.
According to a report from CNET, former Google employees have divulged that the tech giant has met with Domino’s Pizza and Whole Foods to discuss the potential opportunities involved with drone delivery.
The service would provide deliveries through small unmanned aircraft with a reported surcharge of six dollars per delivery.
The report comes on the heels of several drone delivery related developments, with Amazon, Walmart, and several other players making forays into the automated delivery game in the past few years.
Wing Marketplace is part of an initiative called Project Wing, by a division of Alphabet called X. The company initially began to focus on drone delivery as a means of delivering disaster relief during dangerous conditions. Since then, the company has shifted directions and begun exploring a variety of commercial applications for drone delivery. Most recently, Project Wing began testing drone deliveries of Chipotle burritos to customers around the Virginia Tech campus.
The company’s commitment to drone delivery seems to be building; earlier this year, Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, reportedly moved his desk into the Project Wing offices hoping to spur the initiative forward.
For more developments on this story and advancements in drone technology in the grocery industry, check in with AndNowUKnow.
