“This is the Future”: In World First, Domino’s Drone Drops Fresh Pizza into Customer’s Backyard
First, man walked the moon. Then, a drone delivered a pizza to a suburban house in New Zealand. This latest crowning achievement marks another step forward in human progress, much to the chagrin of delivery boys everywhere.
This week, a couple became the first in the world to have a pizza delivered by drone. Domino’s delivered them pizza to their home in suburban New Zealand via one of Flirtey’s DRU drones.
The successful delivery came three months after the companies announced their partnership.
“We invested in this partnership, and technology, because we believe drone delivery will be an essential component of our pizza deliveries, so even more customers can receive the freshest, hottest pizza we can offer,” Domino’s Group CEO and Managing Director, Don Meij, said.
Meij says the goal is to have pizzas delivered inside of 10 minutes.
““They can avoid traffic congestion and traffic lights, and safely reduce the delivery time and distance by traveling directly to customers’ homes,” he noted. “This is the future.”
While delivery boys in beat-up clunkers may lose out on some work, Meij is confident drone delivery will boost the economy overall.
“This will actually create jobs,” he believes. “As we expand, we will look to hire additional team members whose roles will be focused on drone order loading and fleet management.”
This is the first time a drone delivery service has been approved for store-to-door deliveries,according to Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeny.
“The eyes of Silicon Valley and the world are on New Zealand, which has the most forward-thinking aviation regulations, and Flirtey and Domino’s are excited to be bringing world-leading technology, international investment, and high paying jobs to New Zealand,” he said. “We have been conducting daily testing, including final adjustments to our proprietary hardware and software, to perfect the service so that we could deliver the highest quality experience to customers in the safest possible manner.”
