Not long ago, a friend of mine took a day trip to the Badaling section of the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing. While there, she ordered a cup of iced coffee using an app on her mobile phone. To her surprise, it was delivered by a drone within five minutes.
This is a convenience that is increasingly available in China because of the rapid development of instant delivery services through drones.
In August, Badaling Great Wall launched the first drone delivery route in Beijing, as the scenic spot aims to enhance tourist experience, strengthen emergency support capabilities and improve the digital capabilities of its daily operations and maintenance.
A drone can carry up to 2.3 kilograms of goods and deliver them to buyers within three kilometers at a speed of 10 meters per second, according to Meituan, a major on-demand service platform.
The application scenarios of instant delivery services by drones are constantly expanding.
By the end of last year, Meituan had launched 53 delivery routes using drones in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and Nanjing, Jiangsu province. In total, the drones had delivered over 450,000 orders, the company said.
Earlier this month, Meituan launched a drone delivery route at Fudan University in Shanghai, making it the first such offering at a university in the city. This route connects a business complex in the Wujiaochang area of Shanghai with the student apartments in the east district of Fudan University.
Drones complete a round-trip flight every 15 minutes on average, and students can collect their orders at a cabinet set up near their dormitories. When the drone operates at a distance of 50 meters, its noise level is only about 51 decibels, which is lower than the volume of a regular conversation, Meituan said.
South China's Guangdong has been a hub for drone development. The consumer drones sector in the province accounts for over 70 percent of the global market share, while the industrial drones sector holds 50 percent of the international market, according to the local government.
In particular, Shenzhen in Guangdong has been leading the development of consumer drones and the application of delivery services by drones. Futian Port in Shenzhen was the first major port to launch a drone delivery service late last year.
After buyers order products through their mobile phone apps, drones operated by Meituan fly to the designated store to pick up the goods. Then, they get their products delivered to an airdrop cabinet in a little over 10 minutes.
Meituan said residents in Hong Kong can pay for orders done via drone delivery services using Hong Kong dollars through WeChat.
In various application scenarios of the low-altitude economy, instant delivery services by drones in cities have been more complex, and they are currently being piloted in some particular areas.
The service is expected to gradually gain traction across the nation with favorable policy support, address the issue of urban traffic congestion and improve delivery efficiency.
