Elroy Air Completes First Autonomous Flights Under FAA eVTOL Program

DoorDash unveiled its purpose-built autonomous aircraft powered by DoorDash Air and outlined plans for an end-to-end drone delivery system designed to scale for all local businesses. Pilot drone deliveries will begin in Northern California in partnership with national restaurant brands including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, along with local restaurant Momo N Curry. DoorDash said about 80% of today's typical restaurant orders are light and small enough for the aircraft to carry safely, and that initial tests showed delivery times from restaurant to consumer's door averaging under five minutes. The system runs on DoorDash's Autonomous Delivery Platform, the same platform coordinating Dashers, the Dot ground robot, and third-party autonomous delivery partners, and the company said it has already completed hundreds of thousands of lifetime autonomous deliveries. Harrison Shih, Head of DoorDash Air, said the team started with how local businesses actually operate rather than with the aircraft, building ground infrastructure, loading systems, packaging, and order data first.

DoorDash announced a slate of new products at its Dash Forward 2026 event, including text-based ordering, a custom drone delivery system called DoorDash Air, a restaurant growth platform called DashOS, and new AI tools for its delivery workers. U.S. consumers on iOS can join a waitlist starting today to try ordering by text in beta, an extension of the company's in-app Ask DoorDash assistant. DoorDash Air will pilot first in Northern California with partners including Chipotle and Popeyes, and the company says about 80% of today's typical DoorDash restaurant orders are light and small enough for the aircraft to carry safely, with initial tests showing delivery times from restaurant to customer door averaging under 5 minutes. The company is also bringing brands including Macy's, Anthropologie, The North Face, Vans and Timberland to its marketplace, and said Dasher Returns, which charges consumers a flat $7.99 fee per eligible return, is live in select cities and expected to roll out nationwide in November. DashOS connects DoorDash's tools across Marketplace, direct ordering, reservations, loyalty, guest management and marketing, while the new DashBuddy assistant has already been used by over 200,000 Dashers and has resolved about 95% of questions from Dashers signing up or preparing for their first dash. DoorDash also introduced a connector for corporate ordering built on the Model Context Protocol, with companies able to join the beta waitlist starting September 30.

Draganfly announced on Monday that it is raising $10M through a strategic investment from Unusual Machines and a U.S. investment fund, with each investing $5M. The investment is structured as a registered direct offering of 1.87M shares at $5.35 per share. Net proceeds will be used to develop advanced drone technologies and fund working capital as demand grows in U.S. and international markets. The investment comes as the company expands its commercial and defense business, including recent procurement activity with the Canadian Armed Forces, and the deal is expected to close around September 29, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Following the announcement, Draganfly stock traded 7% higher at about $5.75.

Archer Aviation said the U.S. antitrust waiting period has expired on its planned acquisition of Boeing's Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu subsidiaries, satisfying a key condition for the deal to close. The deal still requires other customary closing conditions, including further regulatory approvals that Archer says are underway, and the company continues to expect completion by the end of 2026. The acquisition would combine the three Boeing units' work in autonomy, eVTOL aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems and airspace intelligence with Archer's own aircraft and its AI foundation model, ZEE. Archer pitches the combined business as an end-to-end physical AI platform for aerospace and defense. Archer shares were down 1.23% in premarket.