Mumbai-based pizza outlet has successfully tested pizza delivery using drone. When Amazon is just in the planning stage, this is a remarkable achievement of a small pizza outlet by implementing it. Another advantage is avoiding the mess of traffic and on-time delivery.
“All of us had read about (global e-commerce giant) Amazon’s plans of using drones. We successfully carried out a test-delivery by sending a pizza to a customer located 1.5 km away from our outlet on May 11,” Francesco’s Pizzeria chief executive officer Mikhel Rajani told PTI.
Indian regulations have restricted the use of drone above an altitude of 400 feet. The company claims that this is the first time a company has used a drone for such a purpose in India. The four-rotor drone took off with a pizza from its outlet in Mumbai’s Lower Parel and delivered it to a high-rise building in Worli area. If made commercial, the drone service will not only save time but will also cut down the costs for company. “What we have done now will be common place in the next four-five years,” Rajini added.
A customized drone could cost around $2,000 and another challenge is the limited operating radius of 8km exceeding which the batteries of a drone dry up. The four-rotor drone has a limited carrying capacity which can be increased to up to 8kg in case of a an eight-rotor drone.
