DoorDash has unveiled the six-propeller aircraft that will be used in its new drone delivery business, DoorDash Air, at its annual Dash Forward 2026 event on Wednesday.
The company said it developed the ground infrastructure first, including loading systems, how food would be handed off from a restaurant's kitchen, and packaging, before working on the aircraft itself. DoorDash Labs, the R&D team behind its autonomous sidewalk delivery bot Dot, created the drone delivery service and the underlying Autonomous Delivery Platform software.
The ADP software uses smart routing that incorporates factors such as weather, flight range, and ground traffic to determine which orders make sense to send by air. DoorDash said it sized the system around its historical order data, including order weights and typical travel distances.
"We didn't start with a drone and ask what would fit," said Harrison Shih, who heads up DoorDash Air, in a statement. "We started with what people order and how local businesses actually operate, then built the entire system from there."
DoorDash announced plans in July to launch the drone delivery business after receiving a Part 135 air carrier certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which allows the company to legally operate a commercial drone delivery service in the United States. The drone has six slow-spinning propellers mounted at the ends of its arms and is equipped with a winch to pick up, carry, and drop off packages.
DoorDash said it plans to kick off early pilot deliveries in Northern California with partners including Chipotle, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Momo N Curry.