DoorDash

Food Delivery · Drone Delivery · Logistics

Launch

DoorDash launches DoorDash Air after FAA Part 135 certification

The food delivery giant now competes with its own drone partners, betting vertical integration beats relying on outside logistics operators.

• DoorDash launched DoorDash Air, an in-house drone delivery program, after the FAA granted it Part 135 air carrier certification to run commercial drone deliveries.
• The program was built inside DoorDash Labs, the company's robotics and autonomy unit that also created Dot, its sidewalk delivery robot now running in Phoenix suburbs and Fremont, California.
• DoorDash is designing and building its own aircraft, calling it American-designed with most components made in the U.S., and will also construct the ground infrastructure merchants need to hand off drone orders.
• DoorDash becomes the eighth U.S. operator to win Part 135 certification, joining Amazon's Prime Air, Alphabet's Wing and Zipline.
• DoorDash has run drone pilots with Wing since 2022 across Dallas-Fort Worth, Charlotte, Virginia and Atlanta, and will keep working with Wing and Flytrex even as it builds its own fleet.
• A company spokesperson said DoorDash Air is expected to start commercial deliveries in fall 2026, though other reports note no detailed rollout timeline was given.
• By building its own drones rather than only buying capacity from partners, DoorDash is following an Amazon-style vertical integration playbook, treating autonomous aircraft as a core logistics layer rather than a side experiment.