The company sees the pilot as a stepping stone to uncovering opportunities for drone-based deliveries in the e-commerce space
The company sees the pilot as a stepping stone to uncovering opportunities for drone-based deliveries in the e-commerce space
Bengaluru-based food delivery platform Swiggy will use drones on a pilot basis to make deliveries for its food service Instamart.
According to a blog post by Swiggy, the company received 345 registrations in response to a request for proposal (RFP) for drones-as-a-service. After an extensive evaluation process covering legal, financial and technical aspects, the company selected four companies to conduct the trials.
The pilot project would be carried out in two tranches. The first tranche would include Garuda Aerospace for Bengaluru and Skyeair Mobility for Delhi-NCR. The second tranche would involve ANRA and TechEagle Consortia as well as Marut Dronetech.
According to the blog post, Swiggy has “closed four vendors in two tranches that have a mix of capabilities in drone hardware, potential for scale, investment in innovation, research and development, and the overall ability to deliver the service.”
The pilot project aims to evaluate the feasibility of drones for the “middle mile” use case, specifically for Swiggy’s Instamart grocery delivery service. Drones would be used to replenish stock between seller-operated dark stores and from a store to a shared customer point. A delivery partner would then collect the orders at the common point and deliver them to the customer’s doorstep.
The Tranche 1 pilot would start in the first week of May in Bengaluru with Garuda Aerospace and in Delhi-NCR with Skyeair Mobility. Based on progress, expansion would take place in the region and beyond.
The company plans to use the learnings from these pilots as a stepping stone to uncover opportunities for drone-based deliveries in the e-commerce space.
