Order food or a drink on your phone, then take a short walk to a nearby collection point. In parts of China, a drone can already be your courier. It flies your order over, saving you a trip to the restaurant.
Think of the collection point as a parcel locker with a drone landing pad on top. The aircraft lands on the roof and a mechanism receives the order. You collect your food from the locker below, without going near the propellers.
The convenience is the distance you do not have to travel yourself. The drone covers most of the journey and avoids road traffic. If the collection point is nearby, all you have left is a short walk. That could also be useful for a drink or a small grocery order.
Chinese delivery company Meituan operates fixed drone delivery routes. It describes pickup points in a Shenzhen park, where visitors can collect meals without leaving the park.
What about Europe?
Drone delivery already exists here too. Just Eat Takeaway.com and Manna offer it in Dublin, for example. Manna lowers orders on a tether, a different approach from delivering to a pickup locker.
How much time you save depends on food preparation, the flight and the distance to the collection point. The appeal is straightforward: have your order flown to your neighbourhood instead of making the whole trip yourself.
