- DoorDash has unveiled the drone it's testing with deliveries
- An average delivery time of under five minutes is promised
- The drones will be tested in a limited trial in North California
The future of doorstep delivery is drones apparently (well, drones and robots): DoorDash has unveiled a new drone ready to get food to you in under five minutes on average, even as Amazon faces a growing number of complaints over its own drone delivery service.
DoorDash has been planning drone deliveries for a while, calling the scheme DoorDash Air, and we've now been given a look at the six-propeller aircraft that'll be doing the delivering. A trial is planned for Northern California, in partnership with restaurant brands including Chipotle and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
A lot of work has gone into the pick-up and drop-off infrastructure and ordering system, DoorDash says, as well as the drone itself. The company estimates that around 80% of customer orders are light enough to transport by drone, and initial tests suggest orders can be delivered in less than five minutes on average.
Reaction online hasn't been overwhelmingly positive though. "Wait until the birds learn there’s food in those boxes," writes one Redditor, while others express concerns about bad weather, cold food, and packages accidentally being dropped from the skies.
Noise complaints
"Any local business should be able to reach consumers by air," says DoorDash Air chief Harrison Shih. "We built the whole system so that they can deliver by air without being disruptive to how they run their business."
The drones won't land when they deliver — they'll lower their cargo in front of your door or in your backyard and then zoom away again. According to DoorDash, failsafes will be built in so the drones can safely land in emergencies, and their cruising noise will be comparable to a passing car "at delivery height".
That noise element might be crucial to the scheme's success. As TechSpot reports, residents in Richardson, Texas are none too pleased about the constant buzzing being created by Amazon drones, which launched Prime Air in the area last December. The sound has been compared to that of a flying lawnmower.
Dozens of drones can pass overhead each day, residents say. The Prime Air aircraft are allowed to fly between the hours of 7am and 8pm, and Amazon says noise complaints have been a small share of customer feedback.
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