Mumbai: The financial capital, notorious for its traffic snarls, has achieved a first in the country after a city-based pizza outlet used an unmanned drone to execute a delivery recently.
“All of us had read about (global e-commerce giant) Amazon’s plans of using drones. We successfully carried out a test-delivery by sending a pizza to a customer located 1.5 km away from our outlet on May 11,” Francesco’s Pizzeria chief executive Mikhel Rajani said.
He stressed that this was only a test-flight but its results confirm that it can be used routinely in a few years. A four-rotor drone took off with the order from its outlet in Mumbai’s Lower Parel area and delivered it to a high-rise building in adjacent Worli area, Mr Rajani said, claiming that it is for the first time that the drone has been used for such a purpose in the country.
The eatery, which has been in operations for two years, has made a video of the delivery.
Mr Rajani said the drone saves time and costs for the company, which would otherwise depend on a two-wheeler borne agent to deliver the pizzas. “What we have done will be common in the next four-five years,” he said, adding every customised drone costs around $2,000.
At present, there are restrictions on the regulatory front like the drone not allowed to fly above 400 ft altitude and barred from flying over security establishments.
