Uber tests drone food delivery
Uber is testing restaurant food deliveries by drone.
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The company's Uber Eats unit began the tests in San Diego with McDonald's and plans to expand to other restaurants later this year.
Uber says the service should decrease food delivery times.
It works this way: Workers at a restaurant load the meal into a drone and it takes off, tracked and guided by a new aerospace management system.
The drone then meets an Uber Eats driver at a drop-off location, and the driver will hand-deliver the meal to the customer.
In the future, the company wants to land drones atop parked vehicles near delivery locations and secure them to the vehicle for the final mile of the delivery.
Last year Uber and the city of San Diego won a bid from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to test food delivery by air.
"We've been working closely with the FAA to ensure that we're meeting requirements and prioritizing safety," Luke Fischer, head of flight operations at Uber Elevate, said in a statement Wednesday.
The company said the knowledge it gains from the tests will help with Uber's planned aerial ride-sharing network.(dpa)
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