Soon, Drones Might Be Used to Deliver Food in S’pore But Delivery Riders Are Still Needed

By
George Yang
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We live in 2020, but a hungry panda lives in 2030.

Because while some of us still head down to a hawker centre to buy a pack of cai png with cash, Foodpanda might be using drones to deliver the food to customers instead.

But if you’re a food delivery rider and are panicking now, fret not. You’re still needed.

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Though we won’t know for how long lah.

Soon, Drones Might Be Used to Deliver Food in S’pore But Delivery Personnel Are Still Needed

Lest you’re not aware, delivery via drones isn’t a new concept; Amazon is developing a system to deliver parcels with drones, and it was expected to be rolled out in late 2019 but so far, it’s not materialised. Nevertheless, this footage would show you how feasible it is:

And closer to home, drone delivery is already taking place: this year, the very first parcel, which contains 2kg of vitamins, was sent to a ship that was anchored off Singapore. The drone was flown over the sea, so you won’t be seeing your Shopee order in the air for all to see.

But hey; it was a small step towards a world whereby lost parcels would be part of history.

Today, Singapore is taking yet another small step towards a world ruled by Skynet a Smart Nation: food delivery via a drone.

A drone has just sent five packets of ayam penyet to a ship.

Yup, if this sounds familiar, it’s because it is: it’s just like the vitamins that flew over the sea three months ago, except that this time, it’s sending a much more delicious item.

The drone is run by Foodpanda, as the food delivery platform has signed an agreement with Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering earlier this year to use DroNet – ST Engineering’s drone network system –  to test the delivery of “light food items” over distances of up to 3km.

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And if you think it’s going to be yet another experiment that might never take off, think again: Foodpanda has a lofty goal for it, and as even come out with a name for this new system.

Called PandaFly, the goal is for drones to pick up the food and deliver them to designated collection points islandwide, so that delivery riders can pick up the food from the collection points and deliver it to the customers.

In other words, it’s not replacing food delivery riders. Yet.

Nevertheless, the current objective is to fulfil islandwide delivery—that is, to fill the stomach of a guy living in Pasir Ris and is craving for Boon Lay Nasi Lemak. Islandwide delivery via the conventional way is feasible and food delivery platforms have started doing that, but the long journey might turn your hot soup into ice kacang instead.

Here’s the goody news: if this works, delivery fees might be “stable” so your delivery fee isn’t going to cost more than your food.

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Would this take off?

Well, no deadlines have been set, but if you’re like me, you’d have noticed something.

Food delivery has grown to a stage whereby people living in Pasir Ris can have Boon Lay Nasi Lemak delivered to them.

Can’t believe we were all still ordering McDelivery a year ago, eh?

Here’s what NCMPs are, and what to expect after GE2025:

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]