Domino's Dream of Drone-Delivered Pizza is Still Alive

It’s been nearly six years since Domino’s pushed drone technology to its logical peak by delivering a pizza but now the dream is getting closer to becoming reality.SkyDrop, the pizza maker’s partner in aerial pizza logistics, said this week that it’s completed building the Domino’s drone fleet and that commercial tests will begin soon in New Zealand. The company said its drones will be able to carry orders like three extra-large pizzas, or two large pizzas with one soda and one side dish (including dipping sauce).SkyDrop's operational system for drone delivery includes two aircraft, one ground infrastructure platform, and one autonomous control station that the company said allows for a frictionless workflow at the store location.Besides being totally awesome, pizza delivered by drone offers perks like reducing traffic and CO2 emissions. But with the COVID-19 pandemic still around, it has the added benefit of being contactless.Back in 2016, Domino’s completed its first drone delivery after flying for about five minutes and dropping two pizzas into a couple’s backyard in New Zealand. At the time, the company said it hoped to expand drone delivery to Australia, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Japan and Germany.Since then, SkyDrop has been evolving its technology. The company increased the payload of the SkyDrop drone up to 3.5 kilograms, increased the precision delivery altitude of the drone up to 60 meters and incorporated a parachute system for safety.And now, the time is right. The world is ready. Let the pizzas fly.