Pie in the sky: Domino's announce drone delivery, despite no approval
You can run, you can hide, but you can't escape companies wanting to deliver things via drone to you.
Domino's in New Zealand want to be the next to do so, announcing a partnership with drone delivery company Flirtey. Their mission? To transport pizzas through the air.
While the idea certainly sounds great, the service is yet to receive regulatory approval from New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Domino's and Flirtey said they expect to be able to begin trial deliveries later this year, once (or if?) they get the "okay" from the authority.
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Domino's Group CEO and Managing Director, Don Meij said in a statement, "These trial deliveries will help provide the insight we need to extend the weight carried by the drone and distance travelled. It is this insight that we hope will lead to being able to consider a drone delivery option for the majority of our orders."
"We are planning a phased trial approach which is based on the CAA granting approval, as both Domino's and Flirtey are learning what is possible with the drone delivery for our products but this isn't a 'pie in the sky' idea. It's about working with the regulators and Flirtey to make this a reality for our customers," he added.
Flirtey were behind the first-ever legal drone delivery, which was a drop-off of medication in the U.S. back in July last year. Since then, it's been behind a number of trial deliveries, but commercial drone deliveries are still largely fantasy.
It's a particular problem in the U.S., as new Federal Aviation Administration rules in June regarding drone weight, speed, etc. have almost dashed the hopes of companies wanting to deliver by air in the country.
A spokesperson from New Zealand's CAA confirmed to Mashable Australia that it "did approve a one-off UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) delivery service for a commercial that was filmed a few years ago," but hasn't approved any ongoing UAV drone services before.
Under current CAA rules in New Zealand, drones cannot be operated at night, they must remain in clear sight of the pilot, and they cannot have a total weight of more than 25 kilograms (55.1 pounds).
One day there may be pizzas flying in the air, but in the meantime, you'll just have to deal with the old-school way of getting food delivered by road.
