People living in part of Sweden will soon be receiving food deliveries by aerial drone. The service, which utilizes multicopters that look rather like old-timey milk transportation cans, may subsequently be introduced throughout the country and beyond.
Known as foodora Air, the project is the result of a collaboration between three Swedish companies: mobile connectivity firm Tele2, restaurant/grocery delivery company foodora, and delivery drone manufacturer Aerit. The service will start in May, in the municipality of Värmdö (which is near Stockholm).
Customers will start by using the foodara app to order food from a participating business in the area. If the customer is already known to live in a home suitable for drone delivery – not in a high-rise apartment building, for instance – then a cardboard carton containing their order will be loaded into one of Aerit's Nimbi drones at the business.
Next, the auto-pilot aircraft will take off and fly to the customer's address, utilizing Tele2's 5G and internet-of-things technologies to remain in contact with its remotely located human supervisor (who can take control if needed) the whole time.
Upon reaching its destination, the drone will hover in place while lowering the carton down to the customer's property on a cable. Once the carton has been set on the ground and released, the cable will be winched back up and the drone will return to its base.
This style of delivery, in which the drone hovers at altitude while lowering its payload down on a cable, has several advantages over systems in which the drone itself has to land on the ground.
For one thing, people at ground level aren't subjected to much in the way of the drone's motor noise, nor are they placed near its dangerously whirling propellers. Additionally, the drone doesn't have to waste time and energy trying to make its way past overhanging obstacles such as tree branches. And finally, because deliveries can be made much more quickly, the aircraft can fly farther per battery-charge.
The Nimbi utilizes a total of six weatherproof motor/propeller units, arranged in three sets of two at the ends of its three arms. It can carry a maximum load of 4 kg (8.8 lb) in a 10-liter (2.6-gal) cargo compartment, and has an operational range of 12 km (7.5 miles) when fully loaded – it can go 21 km (13 miles) if empty. When hovering, it produces 65 decibels of motor noise – a level which Aerit describes as being similar to that of a busy office environment.
"We are proud to be the first in Europe to launch real drone deliveries, and we are excited to have Tele2 and Aerit as partners on this exciting journey," said foodora director of operations, Daniel Gustafsson Raba. "Fast home deliveries are a democratic issue, in my opinion. Regardless of where you are in the country, it should be possible to quickly get what you need, such as medicines or groceries."
You can see the Nimbi in action in a previous smaller-scale project, in the video below.