Residents of Värmdö, Sweden, will soon start receiving their food deliveries via drones. These services will utilize multicopters, which resemble traditional milk delivery boxes, and are planned to expand across the country and beyond in the future.
Sweden’s Flying Milk Box Drones for food delivery
The project, named “foodora Air,” is a collaboration between three Swedish companies: mobile connectivity firm Tele2, restaurant/market delivery company foodora, and drone manufacturer Aerit. The service will commence in May in the municipality of Värmdö, located near Stockholm.
Customers will utilize the foodora app to order food from participating local businesses. If the customer’s residence is suitable for drone delivery, Aerit’s Nimbi drones will carry a cardboard box with their order.
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The autonomous aircraft, equipped with Tele2’s 5G and IoT technologies, will maintain communication with a remote human supervisor. Upon arrival, the drone will lower the cardboard box onto the customer’s property using a cable.
After depositing the box and retracting the cable, the drone will return to its base. This delivery style lets the drone hover at altitude while lowering the load, keeping people safe from ground-level risks such as drone noise and rotating blades.
This method also saves time and energy for the drone, as it avoids navigating obstacles like tree branches. Rapid deliveries mean the aircraft can cover longer distances on each charge. The Nimbi drone features six air-sealed motor/propeller units across three arms and can carry a maximum load of 4 kg (8.8 lb), with a cargo compartment capacity of 10 liters (2.6 gallons).
Fully loaded, it has a 12 km (7.5 miles) operational range, extending to 21 km (13 miles) when empty. The drone, while hovering, generates a motor noise of 65 decibels, likened by Aerit to a busy office environment. Daniel Gustafsson Raba, the operations director at foodora:
“We are thrilled to be the first company in Europe to initiate real drone deliveries and are excited to have partners like Tele2 and Aerit on this journey. Quick home deliveries, in my opinion, are a democratic matter. Everyone, irrespective of their location in the country, should be able to promptly receive essentials like medicines or groceries.”
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