SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – A couple of weeks ago, the first authorized drone delivery took place in Latin America and was organized by Relp! Aceleradora de Restaurantes and SpeedBird Aero.
The drone was carrying the world’s first vegan premium steak, known in Brazil as picanha, from No Bones – a vegan butcher shop chain.
The drone left the Barueri Ecological Park in Alphaville, an upscale suburb of São Paulo and headed to a residential condo, also located in Alphaville, as its final destination. The distance between the starting point and the delivery point was approximately one kilometer (0.6 miles). The drone delivery was the first food delivery authorized by the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) and the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
The delivery took around eight minutes, and a company courier received the product in the condo who then delivered it directly to the client’s house.
Besides the speed of delivery, drones can maintain a higher quality of the food by keeping them intact and temperature controlled.
“Considering such benefits, it is possible to conclude that deliveries of the future have everything to win the hearts of the public, guaranteeing: less waiting time, better quality and more excitement for the food”, says Dennis Nakamura, partner of Relp! Aceleradora de Restaurantes.
The first version of the drone made by SpeedBird Aero has hardware and software technology developed in Brazil. The unmanned aircraft can carry up to two kilos of cargo and travel up to five kilometers to maintain the best quality of the food.
Companies Involved in the Delivery
SpeedBird Aero – Company that created and owns the drone. They were responsible for the operation of the unmanned aircraft and receiving all necessary technical approvals from ANAC and FAB.
SpeedTransfer – Specialized group in inland transport created in 2004. Its participation in the project was to provide the delivery by motorcycle and electric bicycle.
No Bones – The Vegan Butcher Shop – São Paulo’s first vegan butcher shop which started its operations in 2016. They provided their roasted vegan picanha.
Relp! Aceleradora de Restaurantes – Founded in 2017, the company specializes in restaurant management, which operates with innovation and technology.
Delivery by Drones
The drone tests arrived at a time of adjustment for the Brazilian market to the new trends coming from abroad. These trends have been brought on mainly by giant delivery companies such as UberEats, which has recently performed tests and is promoting the idea of expanding its deliveries through this method.
The purpose of the test was to acquire logistics data on the efficiency of the service, since the drones can improve the average time of deliveries made by motorcycles.
Even though the technology for autonomous flights is done without a pilot, the delivery tests were conducted by an experienced drone pilot who flew the drone only over uninhabited areas.
In Brazil, ANATEL, the National Telecommunications Agency, is responsible for registering the aircraft and it can only fly with the permission of ANAC authorizing the flight and the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
Improvement Process
Currently, there are still many barriers to performing deliveries by drones, including the uncertainties about this type of equipment, risk of software and hardware crashes, collisions between drones and birds and also loss of the aircraft signal.
Over the next few months, many of these uncertainties should be answered with the tests of Speedbird Aero or even with the tests that may occur in other countries. Only then we will be able to take full advantage of this innovative tool.