DoorDash Wins Air Carrier Certificate as US Drone Delivery Spreads
· TexaHub · Drones, AI in Industry, Regulation & Ethics
DoorDash's new Part 135 certificate, Wing's Orlando launch and Amazon's Papillion site mark a busy week for US drone delivery, while two Colorado towns press pause.
DoorDash becomes an air carrier
DoorDash said on 29 July that it had received a Part 135 air carrier certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, allowing it to run a commercial drone delivery service in the United States, and unveiled an in-house programme called DoorDash Air [1]. A company spokesperson told The Robot Report that the five-stage process covered airworthiness testing, flight operations and maintenance documentation, an FAA-accepted safety management system and a hazardous materials programme, and said DoorDash is one of only eight drone operators in the country to have cleared it [2].
The certificate is not a launch date. DoorDash gave no detailed timeline for when its own aircraft will fly in operations, and TechCrunch notes that longer autonomous flights would require FAA approval for beyond-visual-line-of-sight operation, which Amazon, Wing and Zipline have already obtained [1]. The company said it will share more at its Dash Forward event in September [2]. It is keeping its existing drone partnerships with Wing and Flytrex [1].
Why build in-house
DoorDash Air was developed inside DoorDash Labs, the team behind the Dot sidewalk robot [1]. The company describes three pillars: an Autonomous Delivery Platform that routes each order to a Dasher, Dot, a drone or another mode; merchant handoff infrastructure designed to work across drone providers; and the ability to operate and maintain its own aircraft [2]. DoorDash also says it plans to design and build its drone in the US using mostly American-made components [2].
The business case DoorDash presents is about mid-range orders. It says more than 20% of orders on its platform in 2025 travelled three to five miles, and that those took nearly 25% longer on average than shorter deliveries [2]. It estimated that in 2025 its drones completed deliveries in 25 minutes on average, and says some locations in its drone partner pilots saw order volume grow by roughly 30%, sustained for nine weeks [2]. These are company figures and have not been independently verified.
Co-founder Stanley Tang presented the software as the common thread. "Most autonomy companies work on one layer. At DoorDash, you're working on all of them simultaneously," he wrote [1]. On this view, the routing layer that decides between people, robots and aircraft is the asset, and owning a drone fleet is a way to keep that layer from depending on a single partner.
Wing and Amazon add markets
Competitors expanded in the same week. Walmart and Wing launched their first Florida service on 29 July from two stores in northwest Greater Orlando, including the Apopka Supercenter, with three more Central Florida locations expected in the coming weeks [3]. Customers generally need to live within four or five miles of a participating store; Wing says its drones can deliver in 30 minutes or less, travel at up to 60 mph and lower orders by tether from about 20 feet [3]. Eighteen drones were positioned at the Apopka hub on launch day [3]. Some residents raised noise as a concern; Wing's communications chief said the aircraft are in many communities quieter than a lawnmower in decibel terms but have "a slightly different pitch" [3].
Amazon's Prime Air began service in Papillion, Nebraska, on 30 July, its 11th US location [4]. Customers within 7.5 miles of the fulfilment centre can order items of 5 pounds or less, paying $2.99 per delivery as Prime members or $4.99 otherwise, and the site operates 12 drones [4]. Amazon said no driver positions will be cut [4].
Scale is still modest relative to ground delivery. Walmart said in May that it had made its millionth drone delivery, operating from 66 stores in four states [5].
Local resistance
Not every community is waiting. The Colorado towns of Parker and Castle Rock passed emergency moratoriums on 20 and 21 July after receiving inquiries from Walmart and Wing, the first such bans in the state [5]. Parker's pause on accepting applications for drone dispatch facilities runs nine months and Castle Rock's six [5]. "We don't want to be the test case for it," said Castle Rock Mayor Jason Gray [5].
Local leverage is limited. A Castle Rock memo notes that the FAA has jurisdiction over airspace, flight paths, altitude and in-flight noise, leaving towns mainly with land-use control over launch and landing sites [5]. A Parker town planner told the council that the proposed drones would fly between 150 and 400 feet and peak at 62.6 decibels when delivering [5]. Zoning rules for drone hubs may therefore become the main local tool for shaping where services can operate.
Waiting on Part 108
The industry is also waiting on the FAA's beyond-visual-line-of-sight rule. At a Commercial Drone Alliance event on 31 July, Department of Transportation chief of staff Pete Meachum said the department had taken time over the rule despite pressure to release it, because the secretary did not want to lock in particular technologies or protect incumbents [6]. The 2025 executive order had set a 240-day deadline that would have fallen on 1 February [6]. "What's been out in the public is very much what's coming," Meachum said [6].
Zipline's chief executive argued at the same event that "convincing investors relies on certainty of regulatory approach and framework" [6]. With DoorDash adding its own certificate to the field, the timing of the final rule now matters to more operators that have committed capital to drone delivery.
Sources
[1] DoorDash is building its own drone delivery business — TechCrunch, 29 Jul 2026
[2] DoorDash gains FAA certification to operate its own drone delivery program — The Robot Report, 30 Jul 2026
[3] Walmart drone delivery takes off in Apopka, bringing convenience — and questions — overhead — WKMG News 6, 29 Jul 2026
[4] Omaha metro gets Amazon drone delivery as Prime Air goes live in Papillion — WOWT, 30 Jul 2026
[5] Two Colorado towns impose temporary bans on deliveries by drone — The Denver Post, 22 Jul 2026
[6] DOT pushes back on drone industry calls for speedy rules — FedScoop, 31 Jul 2026