How Meituan is revolutionizing food delivery in China with drones
- ByStartupStory | December 30, 2021
On a crowded sidewalk next to a busy shopping mall in Shenzhen, a 20-year-old woman used a smartphone app to order milk tea from a major grocery company, Meituan. The pearly white drink does not arrive at one of the delivery bikes throughout the city in less than 10 minutes, but from the cloudy sky in the box behind the drone, a small roadside Go up to the kiosk. Only the choir of angels is missing in the scene. Over the past two years, Meituan, one of China’s largest internet companies, has served 19,000 meals to 8,000 customers in Shenzhen, with a population of approximately 20 million. The pilot program is only available in 7 districts, each 3 km in length, and is only available from selected dealers. As the authors of science fiction imagine, drones are delivered to designated kiosks on the side of the road, rather than floating in front of people’s windows. However, the trial is a testament to Meituan’s ambitions, and the company is now ready to strengthen its airmail ambitions.
Tencentbacked Meituan isn’t the only Chinese tech giant who wants to fill the city sky with small planes. Alibaba, which runs Meituan’s rival Ele.me, and JD.com, an e-commerce powerhouse, have recently invested in similar drone delivery services. Based on the pilot program, Meituan has applied for the operation of a commercial drone delivery service throughout Shenzhen. Mao Yinian, head of the company’s drone delivery unit, said at a press conference earlier this month. The application filed in September is currently under review by the Shenzhen Civil Aviation Bureau and will be approved in 2022, although the actual schedule will follow government decisions. “We have moved from suburban experiments to the central part, which means our operational performance has reached a new level,” said Chen Tianjian, a technical expert in the drone business at Meituan. Said at the same event.
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