Food delivery via drone has now arrived to the Val Vista Lakes neighborhood at the edge of Gilbert and Mesa.
Los Angeles-based Flyby Robotics launched a pilot program for drone food delivery for residents living within a one-mile radius of Nekter Juice Bar, MAD Greens and Tokyo Joe's in the neighborhood, the company announced.
“The pilot will last several weeks and there is potential for a permanent rollout in the future,” Jason Lu, Flyby’s co-founder and CEO, said in an email.
During the pilot, customers can order smoothies from Nekter Juice Bar, salad from MAD Greens, sushi from Tokyo Joe’s and crunchy shiitake mushroom chips from Popadelics for a $3 fee with average delivery times under four minutes, according to the company.
"Nekter Juice Bar has always pushed forward to the forefront of technology to improve the guest experience, starting with our best-in-class app with more than 1.3 million loyalty members and user-friendly online ordering capabilities," Steve Schulze, co-founder and CEO of Nekter Juice Bar, said in a statement. "We are now continuing that tradition of innovation working with future-looking companies like Flyby."
Flyby's software integrates into merchants’ order management systems and automatically routes each order to the correct customer.
FAA-certified certified commercial pilots monitor Flyby’s drone flights. The drones are equipped with parachutes for safety. To order delivery service, customers must download Flyby’s app. From there, they are required to share visual markers and stay in communication with drone pilots until deliveries arrive.
Flyby Robotics' deployment system gently winches products down from the hovering drones to customers’ doorsteps, allowing the company to deliver fragile products, such as smoothies, “without spilling a drop,” according to the company.
Lu and Cat Orman founded Flyby Robotics in 2020. The two Yale University graduates were inspired to launch the company to provide businesses with affordable, fast delivery options at a reduced cost.
The company recently raised $4 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Los Angeles-based MaC Venture Capital with participation from Weekend Fund, Anthemis, and Evening Fund.
Flyby Robotics will use proceeds from the seed round toward product development with plans to eventually operate drones without human intervention throughout the delivery process, aside from a pilot in a remote command center with the ability to manually override operation in rare circumstances, according to the company.
"(Flyby Robotics)’ launch in Mesa should be viewed as a paradigm shift in food delivery services, allowing customers to not only more easily connect with local restaurants, but also receive their fresh food faster,” Diana Bowman, co-director of the Center for Smart Cities & Regions at Arizona State University and associate dean and professor at Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, said in a statement. “The Center for Smart Cities and Regions at ASU is delighted to partner with innovative companies such as Flyby as we work collectively to advance our smart region vision."
