DoorDash is going airborne with new drone delivery division

Your next takeout could arrive via drone, after DoorDash announced it was launching DoorDash Air.

DoorDash is launching a new drone delivery program called DoorDash Air. The largest food delivery app in the US said that it has approval from the Federal Aviation Administration that clears the way for drone delivery in the near future.

DoorDash said it has received a Part 135 air carrier certification from the FAA that enable it to delivery small packages via drone. Other companies to receive this designation include Alphabet’s Wing , Zipline , and Amazon .

Previously, DoorDash worked with Alphabet’s drone delivery division Wing on a number of pilots in places like Dallas-Fort Worth , Virginia , and Australia . Now the company says it will deploy its own drones, designed specifically for food delivery. The drones will be designed and assembled within the company’s DoorDash Labs division, which houses its robotics and AI teams responsible for building its Dot sidewalk delivery robots .

“We’re designing an aircraft purpose-built for the gaps we see in local commerce, and it complements the short- and long-range designs our partners are scaling,” the company said in a press release. “Our drone is also proudly American-designed and built, with the majority of components made right here in the U.S.” (To be sure, the vast majority of drones are manufactured in China.)

In addition, DoorDash says it will also build all the necessary ground-level infrastructure to enable restaurants to hand off their deliveries to drones. As seen with other drone delivery pilots, there is a complex system of structures and additional equipment that needs to be built on the ground to enable drones to pickup their payloads before embarking on their deliveries. And there are flight plans, airspace management, and drop-off logistics that needs to be established to track the drones in flight. DoorDash says its committed to building all that infrastructure itself.

“The aircraft is what everyone sees,” the company says. “The harder problem is the infrastructure and integration on the ground, and that’s our advantage. Solving hard physical-world problems for local businesses is our focus, from real-time inventory reconciliation to universal handoff systems for drive-throughs, rooftops, or merchant back doors. We are building that complete end-to-end system.”