Alphabet’s delivery by drone surge to stay-at-home customers

An Alphabet Wing drone delivers a package at a home during a demonstration in Blacksburg, Virginia. — Bloomberg

Alphabet Inc’s Wing unit is seeing a dramatic increase in the number of customers using its drone delivery service in rural Virginia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wing, which began routine deliveries under a test programme approved by the federal government last October, has added new vendors and expanded the items customers can order to better serve people during the epidemic, the company said in a statement Wednesday.