Calling all pizza lovers!
Get this—Dominos in New Zealand recently announced a new partnership with drone delivery company Flirtey. The plan? Well, obviously to transport pizzas through the air and straight into the homes of hungry Kiwis.
Not so fast, though—the service, dubbed the DRU Drone, has not yet gained regulatory approval from New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Domino’s and Flirtey expect to begin trial deliveries later this year once they get the “go ahead” from authorities, though no word yet on when that could be (if ever).
Flirtey, the company behind the first-ever legal drone delivery, which was a drop-off of medication in the U.S. in July of 2015, has since been working with numerous companies on trial deliveries. Unfortunately, as of today, commercial drone deliveries still remain a technology of the future.
In the U.S. specifically, complications delaying drone deliveries are abundant. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released new rules in June regarding drone weight, speed, etc., which has almost completely abolished any hopes of companies wanting to deliver by air in the country.
In New Zealand, however, the CAA did approve a one-off drone delivery service for a commercial that was filmed a few years ago, but since then, has not approved any ongoing drone delivery services.
Similar to corporations in the U.S., New Zealand establishments will face some major hurdles getting plans as such off the ground. The current CAA rules state that drones cannot be operated at night, they must remain in clear sight of the pilot, and they cannot weigh more than 55.1 pounds.
And so, for now, we’ll have to wait patiently for our pizzas to be delivered by car (or foot), as it has been done for years. In the meantime, you can find me browsing New Zealand real estate in anticipation of the pizza-by-drone-delivery roll out.
Check out Domino’s test delivery video below.
