University College Dublin (UCD) staff and students will be the first customers of a new pilot scheme involving takeaway food delivery using drones, according to the Irish Times.
Drone delivery company Manna plans to pilot its new food delivery scheme on the college’s campus in late March, which will see steaming-hot food delivered directly from the restaurant to customers by way of cargo-carrying drones.
The Irish Times reported that the the delivery will be lowered to the recipient on a biodegradable linen string. The drones will hover about 10m above the ground, with the process taking a matter of seconds.
The service will allow restaurant chains to deliver meals within three minutes of being cooked, and have a range of approximately 40 square km.
The company has already partnered with Camile Thai and JustEat for the service. It is hoped that the delivery service will be expanded to include more restaurants and takeaway services.
Manna founder Bobby Healy said: “It is a pleasure to work with such high-calibre partners on our project next month in Dublin – our first European launch in University College Dublin.”
“It’s clear that drone delivery provides a faster, cleaner, safer, cheaper and higher-quality alternative to road-based delivery. We are excited about how that will improve the world”, he added.
If successful, the service will reduce the number of delivery vehicles on the roads, therefore cutting carbon footprints, and will make major cutbacks on packaging.
