Walmart’s commercial ultra-fast drone delivery service has kicked off in selected Walmart stores in the Houston area.

Starting Friday, residents in communities surrounding five local stores located in the Houston area can now access the delivery option by placing orders for eligible Walmart items directly through the Wing app.

The drones utilise a unique tether and winch system to lower packages weighing up to about 2.5 pounds to a precise spot about the size of a picnic blanket on a customer's property.

Wing’s highly automated, lightweight drones are custom designed in the US to operate safely in densely populated areas, flying at about 150 feet and reaching up to about 60 mph, Walmart said.

“Greater Houston’s urban spread, growing population and demand for speed and convenience make it the ideal first market of the year for Walmart and Wing’s continued drone delivery expansion,” Walmart added in a statement.

Through a partnership with drone specialist Wing, Walmart has already completed hundreds of thousands of drone deliveries across dozens of sites in the US including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and, most recently, Metro Atlanta.

Earlier this week, Walmart and Wing announced new plans to continue expanding the service nationwide bringing drone delivery to more than 270 stores across the nation. 

The expansion aims to bring drone delivery to more than 40 million Americans, creating a network of more than 270 drone delivery points by 2027.

New service areas will include major metropolitan hubs such as Los Angeles, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Miami, with others to be announced later.

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