DoorDash is taking a bigger step into autonomous delivery. The food delivery company on Wednesday unveiled DoorDash Air, an in-house drone delivery program that follows a key regulatory milestone from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The certification clears the way for DoorDash to operate commercial drone deliveries in the United States and signals a shift from relying primarily on partners to building its own drone logistics platform.
The announcement comes as major delivery companies race to bring autonomous transportation into everyday commerce. For DoorDash, the goal goes far beyond flying food orders. The company is developing its own aircraft, software, and ground infrastructure to support drone deliveries that could eventually become part of its broader delivery network.
DoorDash wants to build more than a drone. It wants to build the entire delivery system.
DoorDash said it has earned FAA Part 135 air carrier certification, one of the most demanding approvals required for commercial drone operations in the United States. The certification authorizes the company to operate as an air carrier and lays the regulatory foundation for commercial drone deliveries.
“Today, DoorDash announced that it has earned Part 135 air carrier certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is launching DoorDash Air, our in-house drone program. This certification means that DoorDash is authorized to operate as an air carrier and offer an even more deeply integrated drone delivery experience, opening up new possibilities for local businesses,” the company said in a statement.
The approval places DoorDash in a small group of drone operators that have met the FAA’s stringent certification requirements. According to the company, operators seeking Part 135 certification must complete a five-stage evaluation covering aircraft airworthiness, maintenance procedures, operational safety, and other regulatory standards required for commercial service.
“FAA Part 135 certification is a significant regulatory and technical milestone. The process is rigorous and the standards are high: operators must pass a robust five-stage evaluation process verifying aircraft airworthiness, maintenance programs, and safety procedures. The bar for safety and operational reliability is where it should be for operating over communities, and we’re proud to become just the eighth drone operator to have earned this certificate. We’re grateful to the FAA for their engagement throughout this process.”
From food orders to flight: How DoorDash is building its own drone ecosystem
The certification marks a turning point in DoorDash’s autonomous delivery plans. Up to this point, the company has worked with drone partners including Wing and Flytrex to test aerial deliveries. DoorDash said those partnerships will continue, yet DoorDash Air gives the company direct control over the technology, operations, and customer experience.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, DoorDash has spent years moving everything from restaurant meals to convenience store purchases through human couriers. Drone delivery adds a new transportation option that could shorten delivery times for certain orders and reduce operating costs over time.
The company is building the program through DoorDash Labs, its robotics and autonomy division, the same team behind Dot, DoorDash’s sidewalk delivery robot. DoorDash said its aircraft is being built in-house and is intended to complement, rather than replace, the aircraft operated by existing partners.
“We want drone delivery to work for any merchant, anywhere. We’re building the full stack to make that possible from the ground infrastructure to the drone itself, and the handoff systems that make it work together seamlessly,” said Harrison Shih, Head of DoorDash Air. “Advances in hardware, compute, and AI are creating extraordinary new capabilities for local commerce, and becoming a certified air carrier accelerates everything we’re building.”
DoorDash argues that the aircraft itself is only part of the challenge. The company says large-scale drone delivery depends on software that connects merchants, inventory systems, fulfillment operations, and customer orders in real time. Its platform is being built to handle deliveries from locations ranging from drive-through restaurants to rooftops and back-door pickup points.
In describing the project, DoorDash said it is creating an aircraft specifically for local commerce and pairing it with a broader logistics system that integrates into its existing delivery network. That approach allows merchants already using DoorDash to access drone delivery without building their own infrastructure.
The company has not announced when DoorDash Air will begin large-scale commercial operations. It said the drones, infrastructure, and digital systems are still under development.
DoorDash’s entry into the market adds another major player to a field that includes Amazon’s Prime Air, Alphabet-owned Wing, and Zipline, all of which have spent years working through regulatory approvals and commercial deployments. Unlike many earlier efforts that focused on pilot programs, DoorDash is building an end-to-end system that combines human couriers, sidewalk robots, autonomous vehicle partners, and drones into a single delivery network.
That strategy reflects a broader shift across the logistics industry. Delivery companies are no longer treating drones as isolated experiments. They are becoming another transportation layer that can be integrated with existing fulfillment systems, opening the door to faster deliveries for restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, and other local merchants once commercial deployments begin at scale.
