K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
Many of us are familiar with the knock of a delivery driver bringing us take-away food, groceries or our latest online splurge. Now, a company backed by Google's owner is replacing the driver with a drone.
Key points:
Wing is today launching a pilot program in Canberra, in tandem with major Australian supermarket Coles, to deliver groceries by drone to households in several suburbs.
It is pledging to fly the groceries to people within minutes of them ordering online.
If that sounds like a literal pie in the sky concept, Sydney University supply chain expert Professor Rico Merkert said the idea could take off widely within five years.
"I think this is what the future will look like, and it's obviously not just happening in Australia, although Australia has been at the forefront," he said.
Wing is not flying groceries directly from Coles supermarkets.
Instead, it has a hub in Canberra which has been stocked up with 250 of the supermarket's top-selling items. This is similar to the so-called "dark warehouse" model currently being picked up by other tech startups targeting groceries.
The groceries are being delivered to a handful of suburbs in Canberra.(Supplied: Wing)
People can order these items through a specially designed app.
When an order comes in, Wing has packers ready to fulfil it. The drones are then sent up into the air, and flown to their delivery address using automated technology.
"The drone system is a type of autonomous system that maps the routes and schedules the flight," Wing's managing director Simon Rossi told the ABC.
Key points:
- A startup owned by Google's parent company Alphabet is trialling food delivery by drone
- Wing has signed a deal with supermarket chain Coles to deliver 250 types of products
- The idea is not yet profitable and there are lots of barriers on what this pilot project can and can't do
Wing is today launching a pilot program in Canberra, in tandem with major Australian supermarket Coles, to deliver groceries by drone to households in several suburbs.
It is pledging to fly the groceries to people within minutes of them ordering online.
If that sounds like a literal pie in the sky concept, Sydney University supply chain expert Professor Rico Merkert said the idea could take off widely within five years.
"I think this is what the future will look like, and it's obviously not just happening in Australia, although Australia has been at the forefront," he said.
How do you deliver groceries by drone?
Wing is not flying groceries directly from Coles supermarkets.
Instead, it has a hub in Canberra which has been stocked up with 250 of the supermarket's top-selling items. This is similar to the so-called "dark warehouse" model currently being picked up by other tech startups targeting groceries.
The groceries are being delivered to a handful of suburbs in Canberra.(Supplied: Wing)
People can order these items through a specially designed app.
When an order comes in, Wing has packers ready to fulfil it. The drones are then sent up into the air, and flown to their delivery address using automated technology.
"The drone system is a type of autonomous system that maps the routes and schedules the flight," Wing's managing director Simon Rossi told the ABC.
Read More: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-02/google-alphabet-wing-coles-drone-grocery-delivery/100868514
