Food Ordering App Tests Drone Delivery in Singapore Foodpanda is shooting to get orders to customers in around a half hour.
By Lindsay Friedman •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Why go to the grocery store when you could get your meals by drone delivery?
The possibility presented itself after global food ordering app, Foodpanda, unveiled a number of improvements to its services. On top of quicker delivery times, going to 30 minutes rather than 60 to 70, the business has been testing drone deliveries in Singapore, according to CNBC.
"We're constantly looking at the most convenient and fastest experience for customers ordering food online," Foodpanda Singapore's Managing Director, Emma Heap, told CNBC. "With our riders navigating traffic, there's a limit as to how fast that can be."
Related: Rocket Internet's Foodpanda Makes A Meal Out Of UAE's 24h.ae
Foodpanda isn't the only company to go the drone route in the food industry. Last year, Singapore eatery Timbre said it had plans to launch autonomous server-drones, or flying waiters. TGI Friday's once used the flying bots to hover mistletoe over diners, but that didn't end quite well.
But if you're not exactly sure how to tip your drones, you better figure it out soon because it won't be long until delivery robots are part of the picture. Domino's in Australia, for instance, announced the intention to do so in the next few years if preliminary tests work out. Other companies including Amazon and Walmart are also considering delivery by way of drone-flights as they work out the logistics and legalities.
The initiative might be easier if the military's tentative 3-D printing drone project works out, which would not only speed up the drone production process with leftover parts and a portable on-the-go process, but constructing drones would be considerably cheaper as well.
Though the drone trend, and the possibility of inexpensive streamlined production, may seem like an exciting development in the tech world, others may instead have reason to take pause -- especially delivery boys (or gals). Sadly, it may soon be time for this group, and many others, to find new jobs.
