New Zealand Couple Receives First Drone Pizza Delivery

Domino’s uses a drone to drop two pizzas at a customer’s house.

November 18, 2016

WHANGAPARAOA, Auckland, New Zealand – The day of pizza delivery by drone is here—or rather, in New Zealand. Domino’s Pizza sent an unmanned aircraft to deliver two pizzas, The Sun reports.

Three months ago, Domino’s began testing drone delivery with Flirtey, a drone company. This month’s test had a drone called DRU fly to the house, hoover over the designated drop point in the backyard and slowly ease down the order of a peri-peri chicken and a chicken and cranberry pizza. The drone flew back to base after making the drop.

“DRU Drone by Flirtey offers the promise of safer, faster deliveries to an expanded delivery area, meaning more customers can expect to receive a freshly-made order within our ultimate target of 10 minutes,” said Don Meij, group chief executive officer and managing director of Domino’s. “They can avoid traffic congestion and traffic lights, and safely reduce the delivery time and distance by travelling directly to customers’ homes. This is the future.”

Domino’s will conduct more tests in the area before moving to a larger geographic area. “Our customers are excited about the possibility of drone deliveries and we are thrilled to be working with local families as we test and expand this technology,” Meij said.

Future pilot programs will be done in Australia, Japan, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and France, then perhaps the United Kingdom and other markets. Meij said that he doesn’t see drones displacing personnel, such as delivery drivers, adding that more staff would be needed to run the fliers.

Earlier this year, 7-Eleven and Flirtey completed the first fully autonomous drone delivery to a customer's residence in the United States, representing the first time a U.S. customer received a package to their home via drone. The delivery was conducted in celebration of the convenience store chain's 89th birthday.

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