DoorDash is developing its own U.S.-made mid-range delivery drone.
Food delivery service DoorDash has launched an in-house drone delivery program after receiving Part 135 air carrier certification from the FAA. The company already provides drone deliveries through partnerships with Wing and Flytrex and is now adding Manna.
The drone delivery program is being developed by robotics and autonomy arm DoorDash Labs. The company is developing its own aircraft, targeting mid-range deliveries and complementing short- and long-range designs operated by its partners.
In 2025, more than 20% of orders on the DoorDash platform traveled 3-5 mi. but took on average more than 25% longer than shorter deliveries, largely because finding a delivery worker, or Dasher, takes longer for mid-range trips, the company says.
Wing has partnered with DoorDash since 2022 and operates in Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte, North Carolina. In April, the companies added Atlanta to the partnership. Flytrex has been flying for DoorDash in Dallas-Fort Worth since June 2025. Service is planned to begin in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in partnership with Irish drone delivery provider Manna.
Some locations in DoorDash’s drone delivery pilot programs with partners saw order volume grow by about 30%, the company says, and it plans to continue to work with its partners in parallel with deploying its in-house drone delivery system.
DoorDash Labs is the eighth drone operator to receive Part 135 certification from the FAA. The company says it is developing an end-to-end system, not just an aircraft, including the ground infrastructure required to enable drone delivery to work at scale for merchants.
“We want drone delivery to work for any merchant, anywhere,” stated Harrison Shih, head of DoorDash Labs. “We’re building the full stack to make that possible from the ground infrastructure to the drone itself and the handoff systems that make it work together seamlessly.”
Drone delivery operators are anticipating release this year of the FAA’s final Part 108 rule normalizing beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations by uncrewed aircraft as this is expected to unlock the capability to scale up drone delivery operations nationwide.
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