Your next DoorDash order might be coming from the sky

Your DoorDash order is approaching – from the sky.The company announced the launch of the DoorDash Air program Wednesday, its in-house drone delivery to handle orders in a three to five mile range. The launch comes after DoorDash received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate commercial drone deliveries in the U.S., making it one of just eight drone operators with the certification.DoorDash says drones could help speed up mid-range deliveries, which made up more than 20 percent of its orders in 2025 and typically took longer to assign to delivery people known as “Dashers.” Shifting some of those trips to drones would free up drivers to handle shorter deliveries, while Dashers will continue completing most orders, especially those requiring extra flexibility, like apartment drop-offs and larger items.DoorDash already offers drone delivery in select markets, including Christiansburg, Virginia, and parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area through partnerships with Wing and Flytrex. While it will continue those collaborations, DoorDash Air lets the company build its own drones and infrastructure, as well as software needed to control the technology behind the service, including pickups from drive-thrus, rooftops and back doors.DoorDash Air drones (aircraft nose pictured) will deliver orders within a three- to five-mile range (DoorDash)“We want drone delivery to work for any merchant, anywhere. 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,” Harrison Shih, Head of DoorDash Air, said in a statement. “Advances in hardware, compute, and AI are creating extraordinary new capabilities for local commerce, and becoming a certified air carrier accelerates everything we're building.”The company will reveal when and where DoorDash Air deliveries will operate during its annual Dash Forward event in September, a company spokesperson told The Independent. More details on when and where DoorDash Air drone (pictured in production) deliveries will launch will be announced in September (DoorDash)DoorDash’s drone will be developed by DoorDash Labs, the company’s robotics and automation division behind its autonomous sidewalk robot Dot. DoorDash Air will eventually become part of the company's broader delivery network, but customers won't be able to directly request a drone, CNET reports. Instead, the company’s AI-powered Autonomous Delivery Platform will decide whether an order is delivered by a Dasher, robot, autonomous vehicle or drone based on factors like speed, cost and location.The launch comes as DoorDash’s competitors continue expanding their drone delivery programs. Uber Eats first tested drone deliveries in 2019 before putting the effort on hold. It restarted the program through a partnership with Flytrex in September 2025 and now offers drone delivery in select parts of North Carolina and Texas.In March, Grubhub launched a three-month pilot with Dexa's drone delivery service from Wonder's Green Brook, New Jersey, location. The company previously said it would evaluate the results before considering an expansion to other nearby restaurants.Meanwhile, major retailers are also expanding their drone delivery operations. Walmart, through its partnership with Wing, and Amazon’s in-house Prime Air service currently deliver packages weighing less than five pounds to customers within about a six-mile radius of participating locations.Walmart’s drone deliveries are available in select markets across Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona, with planned expansions to cities including Memphis, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego by 2027. Amazon Prime Air is currently operating in select cities including Baton Rouge, Phoenix and College Station.