Google’s Wing Makes Key Hires as they Expand Drone Delivery

Wing’s New Hires Will Lead Company to Expanded Drone Delivery Around the World

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Google’s Wing is focused on expanding drone delivery networks around the world – bringing residential drone delivery to major metro areas.  Now, the company has made appointments to 2 key leadership positions: welcoming Martín Gomez as Chief Technology Officer and Cosimo Leipold as Global Head of Partnerships.  Long-time CTO Adam Woodworth was named as Wing’s CEO last year.

Wing’s new hires will take critical roles as the company moves forward to realize the Wing Delivery Network – their operational model for high-volume drone deliery in metro areas – and to support their new partnership with Walmart in the U.S.  That partnership will being in the Dallas Fort Worth area, but represents a significant example of residential BVLOS drone delivery, enabling service for an estimated 60,000 customers.

As the FAA now estimates that a BVLOS rule may not be implemented until 2025, programs like Wing’s – and the operations enabled by recent FAA authorizations for UPS Flight Forward and Zipline – have become more important to making commercial drone delivery viable.    As the drone delivery space begins to gain speed, top players are vying for partnerships with retail and restaurant chains.  Wing’s approach of enabling independent retailers to utilize drone delivery services, as they have done in Christianburg VA and Australia, may provide them with an advantage.  “At Wing, a main focus of Cosimo’s will be helping retailers integrate automated drone delivery in a zero-friction way to realize the paradigm shift that Wing’s delivery represents,” says the company announcement.

Martín Gomez joins Wing after a long career at Aurora Flight Sciences, where he was most recently Senior Chief Engineer. He has worked as an engineer and technical leader for 40 years, across the fields of uncrewed aircraft systems, spacecraft, and embedded systems development.

Cosimo Leipold joins Wing after seven years at Nuro, a leading on-road autonomous delivery company, where he was a founding member. At Nuro, Cosimo led both the Strategy and Partnerships teams and helped the company secure multi-million dollar deals with some of the world’s best known brands, including Walmart, Kroger, and UberEATS.

Read more:

• Walmart Parters with Wing on Drone Delivery in Dallas Fort Worth
• Google Wing, Apian Partner to Create Medical Drone Delivery Service in Ireland, UK
• Wing Demonstrates Drone Delivery Anywhere; Delivering Beer and Peanuts to Coors Field
• Wing’s CEO Testifies Before Congress: Make Drone Regulations “Predictable and Pragmatic”