Delivery giant Meituan said its drone service will deliver food, drinks and other goods such as medical supplies to customers in a remote area of the Great Wall.
China is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of civilian drones. Drones bring convenience to people living in both cities and rural areas that are difficult to reach.
The Great Wall drone route stretches from the rooftop of a nearby hotel to a watchtower in Badaling, the most beautiful section of the massive structure.
Opening in 2023, the expanded area has no stores, so drones can deliver a variety of items, including emergency supplies, to visitors in just five minutes compared to 50 minutes by road.
According to Meituan, the drone can operate in windy and light rain conditions, carrying up to 2.3kg per trip. The delivery fee is very cheap, only 4 yuan (14,000 VND) per trip, similar to other regular Meituan delivery services. The service accepts orders from 10am to 4pm, after which the drone will be assigned to transport the trash to recycling stations.
Drones still require human assistance, though. Once an order is delivered, a Meituan employee picks it up from a nearby store and takes it to the hotel’s rooftop to be weighed and packaged.
An operator will attach a package to the drone and the drone will automatically fly to a tower where another operator is waiting to pick it up. The customer will pick up the order from this operator at the tower.
Flight service business
Drone delivery services have expanded rapidly in China in recent years. In 2016, e-commerce giant JD.com pioneered a pilot program to deliver packages to rural areas using UAVs.
With a payload of 15kg for a maximum distance of 20km, the drone helps shorten transport time from 4 hours by car on winding roads to less than 20 minutes.
Not only improving logistics in rural areas, drones are also used to deliver fast food to people living in urban areas.
Meituan completed its first drone delivery in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen in 2021.
The company currently operates more than 30 drone routes in multiple cities and has processed more than 300,000 orders.
To navigate dense urban spaces, drones follow predetermined routes from launch points — often rooftops — to pickup points. Instead of hovering outside apartment or office windows, they deliver to kiosks near residential and office buildings.
Since last year, Meituan has also opened drone delivery kiosks in public parks in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The expansion of drone delivery services comes amid a government push for the “low-altitude economy,” which refers to a range of businesses focused on manned and unmanned civil aircraft flying below 3,000 meters.
The “low-flying economy” was first identified as a new growth driver for the Chinese economy at the Central Economic Work Conference in December 2023. China aims to expand the scale of this sector to 2 trillion yuan ($279 billion) by 2030.
TB (according to Vietnamnet)Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/giao-do-an-thuoc-men-bang-drone-den-van-ly-truong-thanh-391119.html
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