DoorDash Built Its Drone Delivery System From the Ground Up

DoorDash says it began building its drone delivery business by working on the ground, before developing an aircraft. The company unveiled a six-propeller drone at its annual Dash Forward 2026 event on Wednesday.

Before working on the aircraft, DoorDash focused on loading systems, handing food from restaurant kitchens to couriers, and packaging. DoorDash Labs, the research and development team behind the company’s autonomous sidewalk delivery bot Dot, built the service, now called DoorDash Air.

The team also developed the Autonomous Delivery Platform (ADP), software that coordinates deliveries by people, sidewalk bots, and drones. Its smart routing considers weather, flight range, and ground traffic to identify orders suited to air delivery. DoorDash says it designed the system around 13 years of merchant and customer data, including order weights and typical travel distances. The company has previously said more than 500,000 restaurants use its marketplace.

“We didn’t start with a drone and ask what would fit,” Harrison Shih, who leads DoorDash Air, said in a statement. “We started with what people order and how local businesses actually operate, then built the entire system from there.”

DoorDash announced plans in July to launch the service after receiving Part 135 air carrier certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The aircraft has six propellers and a winch for picking up, carrying, and dropping off packages. DoorDash says it plans early pilot deliveries in Northern California with Chipotle, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Momo N Curry.