Meituan to start testing drone deliveries in Shanghai
Business & Technology
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Ecommerce giant Meituan’s drone delivery service is expected to begin trials in Shanghai in the first half of next year.
- Meituan wants to use drone deliveries for time-sensitive products such as cakes and ice cream, along with emergency deliveries such as medicine.
- The drones have a reported delivery time of 17 minutes within a two-kilometer radius. They completed their first orders in Shenzhen, China’s drone capital, at the beginning of the year.
- By June, they delivered over 2,500 orders and completed over 200,000 flight tests.
The context: Drone deliveries face major regulatory hurdles in China, which means they won’t move forward unless companies work with authorities:
- At present, every drone in Shanghai requires approval from air traffic control. The flight timing and coordinates must be reported in advance of every takeoff.
- Meituan’s latest drone tests are the result of the company’s collaboration with Shanghai’s Jinshan District government.
Also relevant: China’s drones aren’t only used for delivering cake. State media recently reported the development of high-speed drone “swarms” that can “intercept, besiege, and expel invasive targets” without a human controlling them.
