DoorDash Will Let You Text Your Order, Get It by Drone, and Return Things Easily

DoorDash will let customers order food by text message. You type what you want, DoorDash texts back nearby restaurants, suggests food and lets you pay in the same chat. The company described it as part of a larger set of updates The Verge.

The text feature is in preview and not open yet. iPhone users in the US can join a waitlist to try an early test. No launch date has been shared.

You would not open the normal app store. You write your order in a chat, like asking a friend to pick up dinner, and DoorDash answers with choices and payment. The system must understand the request, find an open restaurant with that food, and remember your cart.

DoorDash will also start its first drone delivery test in northern California under the name DoorDash Air. Local Chipotle and Popeyes stores will take part. It is the first real use of its own drones.

The test follows approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that controls US airspace. DoorDash said in July it was cleared to run its own drone delivery service DoorDash, also reported by Reuters. It is building its own drones and can fly them for business Bloomberg.

The limits are size and weight. DoorDash says about 80% of normal restaurant orders are light and small enough for its drones. Early tests reached customers in five minutes.

Five minutes is much faster than a car courier. It means short flights straight from restaurant to home. Only light orders qualify. Heavier orders stay with ground couriers.

DoorDash will expand its store returns service across the US in November. You can pay a courier to take an item back to a local store.

It costs $7.99 per return. The courier picks it up at your door. No box or shipping label is needed.

That removes printing a label and finding a box. The courier gives the item straight to the store. DoorDash did not say which stores and items qualify.

The broader context here is DoorDash putting ordering, fast delivery and returns in one system. Texting makes it easier to start. Drones make some meals faster. Couriers make returns simpler.

In my view, returns look easiest to grow fast because DoorDash can use its current drivers. Text ordering and drones need more testing. The goal is simpler daily errands, which is why these early tests matter.