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Drones set to deliver your orders for food, medicine

TNN | May 6, 2021, 07.45 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Restaurant, medicine and grocery delivery aggregators,

including Swiggy and Dunzo, will soon be able to deliver through drones
during the pandemic. Test runs in controlled environments have already
started.
The government has allowed 20 entities, including Swiggy, Dunzo and
SpiceJet, to carry out experimental flights of drones "beyond visual line of
sight (BVLOS)". Once this protocol is established after successful
experimental flights, drones could be used for various purposes like
delivering Covid jabs, medicines and meals, while ensuring safety and
security issues.

"This could be a hub-and-spoke model that will help cut down delivery
times drastically," said a senior executive at a food delivery company. "For instance, if the route is long, drones could be used to
ferry the medicines or food to a central location from where delivery executives can collect them."

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Last-mile delivery through drones is difficult in India because rooftops do not have clear landing zones and are often
obstructed with power lines, he added.
"The drone ecosystem has quickly established itself as a fundamental component of industry 4.0, having been successfully
adopted in a vast spectrum of sectors such as medicine, logistics, defence, entertainment, film production & heavy industry,"
said Arjun Aggarwal, MD, Arc Ventures, one of India's leading investors in the drone space.

India is preparing for drones operations "beyond line of sight" - which basically means flying them over a distance where the
operator can't see this "remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)" during the flight while piloting it to the destination and back.