Some Virginians with a weakness for Girl Scout Cookies can have the sweets flown to their doorstep.
Drone delivery company Wing, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, is working with a troop to fulfill cookie orders using its aircraft in the town of Christiansburg, where the company has been delivering small freight such as coffee, library books, and FedEx packages since 2019.
“I’m excited that I get to be a part of history,” 11-year-old Gracie Walker, a member of the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Troop 224, told the Associated Press. “People are going to realize and be, like, ‘Hey, this is better for the environment, and I can just walk outside in my pajamas and get cookies.’”
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Christiansburg’s Samoa-lovers, as well as those who prefer Thin Mints or Tagalongs, can use the Wing app to place their cookie order for delivery, just as they can do for orders from the local Walgreens, Gran Rodeo restaurant, and Sugar Magnolia gift shop.
The first Wing delivery in Christiansburg occurred on Oct. 18, 2019, when the 10-pound No. A1229 drone carried a winter vest 2.32 miles to some local residents. The delivery took two minutes and 50 seconds. No. A1229 is retired and on display in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wing’s autonomous drones have two forward propellers and 12 vertical propellers, allowing them to both cruise and to hover without coming within 20 feet of people on the ground, and they use a global positioning system to find their way to their delivery spots.
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“It was so smooth, and it didn’t shake,” Walker said of the delivery vehicle. “They look like a helicopter but also a plane.”
