DoorDash has earned Part 135 air carrier certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is launching DoorDash Air, an in-house drone programme.
The certification means that DoorDash is authorised to operate as an air carrier. The delivery company becomes the eighth operator to have passed the FAA’s five-stage evaluation process verifying aircraft airworthiness, maintenance programmes and safety procedures.
The company is building its own drone programme inside DoorDash Labs, its in-house robotics and autonomy team. “The aircraft is what everyone sees,” the company said when announcing the new venture. “The harder problem is the infrastructure and integration on the ground: real-time inventory reconciliation, universal handoff systems for drive-throughs, rooftops or merchant back doors. That infrastructure layer is what makes drone delivery actually work at scale for merchants. It’s not just about building the drone, it’s just as much about running the airline: the routing, the safety systems, the operational layer that makes everything fly smoothly.”
DoorDash has existing drone delivery partnerships with Wing and Flytrex, which will be maintained, at least for the near future. DoorDash itself does not currently have its own regulatory approval to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
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