Well, that didn’t take long. A week after telling Robotics Trends it will be carrying out home drone deliveries within a year, Flirtey just completed the first FAA-approved drone delivery to a home.
Flirtey partnered with 7-Eleven, in honor of the convenience store’s 89th birthday, completing two drone deliveries from a 7-Eleven in Reno, Nevada to a nearby home. The Flirtey drone autonomously delivered Slurpees, a chicken sandwich, donuts, hot coffee and candy to the home of the family who placed the order.
The delivery was made “in the span of a few minutes,” and the Flirtey drone hovered in place and gently lowered each package to the ground in the family’s backyard.
“My wife and I both work and have three small children ages 7, 6 and 1. The convenience of having access to instant, 24/7 drone delivery is priceless,” said Reno resident Michael, who received the Flirtey delivery. “It’s amazing that a flying robot just delivered us food and drinks in a matter of minutes.”
Both Flirtey and 7-Eleven said plans are in the works to expand drone delivery tests and work closely together.
http://www.roboticstrends.com/article/slurpee_flies_home_in_first_faa_approved_drone_delivery
Comments
Congratulations to Flirtey!
guys, all u drone engineers, gear up with your resume. seems lot of opportunities coming up for drone techies. the FAA laws will keep amending until they are fine tuned for practical situations.
Maybe just a matter of time, to show the FAA there's on-board technology that'll keep everyone safe.
One problem I see is that lowering a package to the ground without landing does not meet the wording of FAR 91.119 ("Except when necessary for takeoff and landing"...), so unless the delivery to a point in "other than congested areas" and at least 500 feet away from any "person, vessel, vehicle, or structure", they'd need some other waiver or exemption (or, perhaps, land at that point immediately after delivery). VLOS may apply if the drone is always in sight of at least one of the observers or operators, but that is not workable other than for demonstration.
I'm not being argumentative, I'm just trying to figure how this can work within the existing regulatory restrictions...
Frightening
"Drone-delivered Slurpee" made me think of a recent popular mechanics article I saw.
It's supposed to show what humans would look like if they evolved to survive car accidents. I'm guessing it also shows how humans would evolve to survive in a world with drone delivered slurpees.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a21975/what-humans-evolv...
Hey Marc, I asked them that question and am awaiting their response. But I'm willing to bet the house is directly behind the 7-Eleven. Can't be far if the deliveries only took a "few minutes." Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeny also told me that if there's a person at the take-off and landing zone that suffices for VLOS as far as the FAA's concerned.
I'd love to know how Flirtey is getting around the VLOS, congested area, and operation with 500 feet of persons/structures regulations. All of the articles seem to gloss this over.