Wing’s new delivery network lets its drones deliver more with fewer stops
by Umar Shakir from The Verge - All Posts on (#69M6Q)
A Wing drone landing zone where it can stop to charge between deliveries. | Image: Wing Wing, the drone delivery company owned by Google parent company Alphabet, is unveiling a new system that enables its drones to dynamically take pickup and delivery jobs back-to-back without needing to report back to an originating base. The ability is part of the company's new Wing Delivery Network, a decentralized logistics system that can automatically delegate tasks to a fleet of drones throughout a metro area.
Wing Delivery Network consists of the drones themselves, pads where drones can take off an land as needed for charging, and Autoloader stations. Autoloaders are installed at retailers' parking lots, and employees can load a prepared order when ready. Then, an available drone can come and lower a rope to grab it without anyone...