Food Delivery Industry Enters Intense Competition! Meituan Delivery Trials Drone Delivery to Ensure Coffee Quality

Shanghai Resident Spots Coffee "Flying" in the Sky Today?!

Oh... it turns out it was a drone "carrying" coffee and delivering it to users!

On November 26th, the 3rd East China UAV Base Innovation and Development Forum was held in Shanghai's Jinshan District, discussing topics such as East China UAV airport planning and industrial applications of UAV cluster intelligence. The forum highlighted that UAV services are playing an increasingly important role in emergency management, urban operations, and logistics transportation.

With the growing demand for food and beverage delivery, and considering issues of delivery speed, quality, and delivery personnel safety, the base will gradually establish a low-altitude UAV delivery network over the next three years. The first delivery route for real-user scenarios will be set up in Shanghai's Jinshan District to create a 15-minute urban end delivery circle, with plans to begin trials in the first half of 2022!

Shanghai: The City with Most Coffee Shops Worldwide

According to analysis, as of January 2021, Shanghai had 6,913 coffee shops, making it the city with the most coffee shops in the world. The UAV base has partnered with Meituan APP to make it possible for this city with the world's most coffee shops to deliver coffee within 3 kilometers in just 15 minutes using drones!

According to Mao Yilian, head of Meituan's UAV business, the reason they chose coffee delivery as their trial target is because Shanghai residents simply love coffee too much! However, few coffee shops are willing to offer delivery, and very few people order coffee delivery... The main reason is concerns about the efficiency of manual delivery and the impact of bumps during transportation on the flavor, taste, and quality of coffee, which could lead to damage to brand reputation.

If using drones for delivery, costs would not increase, while delivery efficiency would be nearly double that of manual delivery! Additionally, because of aerial flight, the delivery route reduces "bumps," better ensuring the quality of coffee during delivery. This brings more and better choices to Shanghai residents' dining tables and allows technology to bring everyone a higher quality consumer experience.

How Drone Delivery Works

Currently, UAV delivery capacity has been integrated into the Meituan delivery App, working in coordination with delivery riders to provide delivery services. When selecting UAV delivery service during ordering, users can see the delivery route. Delivery is conducted in a contactless manner - after placing an order, the drone follows the system-planned route to deliver the food from the restaurant to a designated community outdoor delivery station, where users can scan a QR code with their phone to open the delivery station locker and retrieve their food. Future plans also include adding robot pickup services, indoor delivery stations, and more.

During the implementation phase, Meituan's UAV delivery service will be offered free of delivery fees!! However, some netizens have expressed that since drones appear without increasing costs, naturally a group of manual delivery personnel will be eliminated. The purpose of delivery service is to enjoy the convenience of door-to-door delivery, while drone delivery requires going to specific locations for pickup and drop-off, which undoubtedly makes human service a luxury...

What are everyone's thoughts on this issue?

Image source: Network

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