Could this be the end of pizza delivery workers? Domino’s Pizza, one of the world’s largest pizza delivery chains, is trialling an unmanned helicopter delivery drone to deliver its pizzas. The drone, the chain claims, is capable of delivering a pizza from store to customer in just a fraction of the time taken by a delivery driver.
Dubbed to DomiCopter, the unmanned helicopter holds the pizza on a frame below its rotor system. The pizza is stored inside the chain’s famous heatwave bag to keep it warm throughout the journey and ready for customers to consume as soon as it arrives at their door.
Unmanned aircraft are illegal to operate without a license in the United States, but this creation was built entirely within the UK. The Domino’s branch, which did not reveal its location, claims that the eight-rotor flying machine was flown by a skilled pilot and did not endanger any nearby residents.
While the aircraft is almost certainly a publicity stunt for Domino’s, it raises some interesting questions about the future of deliveries. Thanks to its low costs, rapid delivery speed, and sheer novelty, many people are calling for the drones to take over from pizza delivery drivers.
Domino’s, and other businesses that plan to implement eight-rotor flying machines into their business model, face some additional issues. While remote control planes and other flying machines are able to fly under 400 feet in the UK, they are banned in the United States until 2015 at the earliest.
Other issues include landing permission, which must be granted prior to the aircraft landing on private property to complete a delivery. With Amazon and other e-tailers adopting one-click purchase policies for other products, could Domino’s pioneer the ‘one-click drone delivery’ option for online pizza customers?
