Wing will begin public drone deliveries from Frisco Station on Thursday—”the first in a major U.S. metro area,” the company says.

Frisco and Little Elm residents will be able to order drone deliveries of Blue Bell Creameries ice cream, easyvet prescription pet medications, and Texas Health Resources first aid kits.

Wing Blue Bell ice cream, delivery. [Photo: Wing/Blue Bell]

“We’ll start small with thousands of eligible people in Frisco and Little Elm in the coming months, before expanding based on demand,” Wing says on its DFW website, which offers a newsletter subscription enabling residents to be notified when their neighborhood is eligible.

The Wing website says its service will feature “6 miles, 6 minutes, Free Delivery.” 

Last October, Wing—the drone delivery unit of Google parent company Alphabet—began doing demos of its service at Frisco Station and announced the testing of drone deliveries from Walgreens stores in Frisco and Little Elm. 

Wing Texas Health first aid kit delivery. [Photo: Wing/Texas Health]

Frisco Station developed “one of the first vertiports globally” in 2017

Frisco Station has been preparing for this launch for a long time. The 242-acre mixed-used development—a partnership between The Rudman Partnership, Hillwood, and VanTrust Real Estate—was built with the infrastructure to support “emerging technologies across all nodes,” and developed what it calls “one of the first vertiports globally” back in 2017. The goal: putting into place the infrastructure needed to move goods—and eventually people—autonomously.

“Since launching demonstrations last October in our community, Wing has formed strategic partnerships with prominent local companies to officially bring public drone delivery to tens of thousands of Frisco and Little Elm residents,” said Robert Folzenlogen, SVP of strategic development at Hillwood, in a statement. “Frisco Station is looking forward to building upon our partnership with Wing as it works to introduce this pioneering vision across North Texas.”

in 2018, Frisco Station also became one of the first connected communities in the U.S. to be constructed with AT&T’s 5G from the ground up—enabling real-time connectivity through each of its districts and its planned 30-acre programmed park system. 

Drones were first at AllianceTexas Flight Test Center

To prepare for October’s drone launch at Frisco Station, Wing conducted test flights at Hillwood’s AllianceTexas Flight Test Center, an unmanned aerial systems (UAS) testing facility in Fort Worth.

The Flight Test Center is a component of the larger AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ), where a wide range of autonomous trucking, unmanned aircraft systems, and other cutting-edge mobility solutions operations are being tested. In January for instance, Hillwood and autonomous trucking startup TuSimple expanded their collaboration by announcing a million-square-foot TuSimple facility at The MIZ.

Walgreens drone deliveries get an official Wing launch April 7 too

Wing drone deliveries from Walgreens to homes in Frisco and Little Elm will get their official launch on April 7, 2022, following testing since last October. [Image: Wing/Walgreens]

Outside of Frisco Station, Wing’s test deliveries with Walgreens in Frisco and Little Elm are graduating to an official public launch this Thursday as well. The partnership will see “store-to-door” commercial drone delivery of health and wellness products for customers in Frisco and Little Elm.   

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