Domino's delivers first pizzas using aerial drone

[Shawn Knight]

Domino’s Pizza, the world’s second-largest franchised pizza chain, has successfully carried out (no pun intended) the world’s first commercial delivery of food by drone to a customer.

Chipotle Mexican Grill teamed up with Google’s Project Wing drone delivery service a couple of months back to deliver burritos on the campus of Virginia Tech although that was more of an experiment than anything else.

Domino’s joined forces with drone delivery service Flirtey to deliver its first order, a peri-peri chicken pizza as well as a chicken and cranberry pizza (what an odd combination) to a customer in Whangaparaoa, roughly 25km north of Auckland in New Zealand.

Domino’s says the Flirtey DRU Drone, which was controlled autonomously via GPS, was overseen by a team of aerial drone experts as well as a qualified and experienced pilot. The historic flight came following a number of operational and product trials, said Don Meij, Domino’s Group GEO and managing director.

The executive said they invested in the technology and partnership with Flirtey because they believe drone delivery will be an essential component of their pizza deliveries, allowing even more customers to receive the freshest, hottest pizza they can offer.

Few would argue that aerial drones have a bright future ahead although the capacity in which they’ll be utilized isn’t yet clear as legal red tape continues to curb innovation.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/67091-domino-delivers-first-pizzas-using-aerial-drone.html

 

[cldmstrsn]

I see a lot of people getting free pizzas via accidental drop or shooting one down and getting free pizza. Anyways a lot of ways to get free pizza.

 

[EEatGDL]

I see a lot of people getting free pizzas via accidental drop or shooting one down and getting free pizza. Anyways a lot of ways to get free pizza.

Or you know: companies adding cams to their drones so that they get your picture damaging private property.

 

[Uncle Al]

Won't matter if that drone is under the FAA legal limit, considered "homeowners space". If your lucky enough to live in a stand my ground state, they have no recourse since they are legally trespassing and the jury is still out on using a camera in private space .... of course, that's why we all keep burn barrels in the back yard .... those drones should toast up nicely!

 

[captainload]

I see a lot of people getting free pizzas via accidental drop or shooting one down and getting free pizza. Anyways a lot of ways to get free pizza.

Or you know: companies adding cams to their drones so that they get your picture damaging private property.

Right, because nobody puts on masks when their worried about cameras. /shakes head

 

[psycros]

Because nothing says "hot pizza" like your pie being dragged through the air at 40 MPH for 15 minutes.

How does this make more sense than paying some kid minimum wage to drive his own car or a company moped at breakneck speed? Seriously.

 

[JayT1803]

I see myself getting a lot of free pizza's because the pizza will most likely be cold upon arrival.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

#1 you don't own the "space" above your home. The government does. They regulate it.

#2 Shooting down private property is usually a " no no" (read: highly illegal).

#3 You could do what Iranians did to the US stealth drone and spoof the data to trick it into landing on your dinner table.

 

[OutlawCecil]

I see a lot of people getting free pizzas via accidental drop or shooting one down and getting free pizza. Anyways a lot of ways to get free pizza.

Complaints of "I found a hair in my pizza" will soon be replaced with "I found a bullet in my pizza"

 

[Outlaw88]

This is Awesome!! It is another way for companies to save money by not needing drivers(employers). Who cares that more jobs will be lost, even if they are part time jobs. China can hire more people to make drones there.

 

[tonylukac]

Salerno's pizza where I now play bingo in hodgkins, il should do this. No such thing as a free lunch, but free for some daily. $2.50 for me. Just need a pilot's license, sort of like pontius pilot. Not really. Might nationalize this pizza like they did the one's on chicago's near north side where I worked at the tribune newspaper. Pizzaria uno (uno/due) and gino's east are either a nationwide franchise or available at grocery stores. Only thing is, they didn't get the recipe from the owner which's distintive ingredient was cornmeal, white and yellow cornmeal respectively. If this pizza is nationalized remember it has beer added as the secret ingredient. The person that owned uno/due was ike sewell, not an italian. I don't even know if this salernos has beer in it since it's the second generation. The first one was in berwyn, il. I actually had both recipies and cooked them at home, one from julia child and the other from jeff smith, pbs shows. Another hint at excellent italian food is to use canned tomatoes. Those are vine ripened. Lot of restaurants use these in soups. To one up this, I had a garden and could have actually picked vine ripened tomatoes, but didn't. I'm not italian either.