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 Flytrex drone delivery | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online food ordering |
| Genre | Delivery drone |
| Founded | 2013 in Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Founders | Yariv Bash, Amit Regev |
Area served | |
Key people |
|
| Services | Food delivery |
| Website | flytrex |
Flytrex Aviation Ltd., is a Tel Aviv-based company that operates an online food ordering service using drone delivery. The company operates in the United States, focusing its service in the suburbs.[1] The company designs and manufactures its certified drone delivery systems, as well as operates its own food ordering marketplace.[2]
History
editFounded in 2013 by Amit Regev and Yariv Bash (former Co-founder and CEO of SpaceIL, a Google Lunar XPRIZE winner[3][4]). It originally designed and sold a cellular-based black-box flight telemetry logging for off-the-shelf consumer drones, supporting mostly DJI drones.[5]
In 2016 the company shifted from its consumer-focused line of products and started developing its drone delivery service,[6][7] partnering with aha.is, Iceland's largest eCommerce service, to launch its first drone-based food delivery service.[8][9] The first implementation included delivering food orders on a single flight route connecting two points in Reykjavik, Iceland.
In 2018 Flytrex partnered with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and was one of the few companies selected to participate in the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP), designed to test and evaluate the integration of commercial drone operations into the US National Airspace (NAS).[10][11][12] In early 2019 it launched two drone delivery stations in Raeford[13] and Fayetteville,[14] North Carolina, to test its technology[15] and provide actionable information to the FAA and US Department of Transportation (USDOT).[16]
In October 2021, Flytrex opened its first commercial drone delivery station in Holly Springs,[17][18] North Carolina. The station is located at Kite Realty Group’s Holly Springs Towne Center. As of November 2023 the company serves residents within 2.75 miles of its delivery station. According to the company, 1 in every 3 households in the area has used the service.
In March 2022, Flytrex opened a new station in Granbury, Texas,[19][20] in September 2022 they launched a station in Durham,[21] North Carolina,[22] and in April 2024 in Little Elm, Texas.
Operations
edit
Flytrex designs and manufactures its drones[23][24] and uses third-party partners to pilot its drones. Its first partner, Causey Aviation Unmanned, received FAA approval to operate under Part 135 in January 2023.[25][26] In November 2023, the company announced, through its long time partner Causey Aviation Unmanned, FAA approval to operate its drone delivery service Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) without the need for visual observers.[27]
The service operates from strip malls[28][29] by establishing a drone delivery station in proximity to restaurants. With the current drone delivery system an operator picks up the order from the restaurant, loads the drone with the package, and the drone flies to the customer’s yard autonomously.
Drone specifications
edit
Flytrex’s drone cruises at 32 mph (51.5 km/h) at an altitude of 230 feet (72 meters). The drone can fly 5 miles (8 km) round-trip, carrying up to 3 kg (6.6 lbs) worth of food.[30] Each station can fly multiple drones simultaneously under the supervision of a single drone pilot.
With its six propellers, the drone takes off and automatically flies to the delivery address, using multiple location based technologies to locate the programmed delivery point. Upon arrival, the drone descends to 80 feet (24 meter), where it hovers and slowly lowers the cargo to the ground using a proprietary tether mechanism.[31] The drones do not have cameras.
To uphold the strictest safety standards, all Flytrex drones are built with extensive redundancies allowing the drone to return to the station in case of a malfunction. The drone is also equipped with a parachute that deploys if a major failure occurs that prevents the drone from maintaining flight.
Criticism
editEarlier versions of the system utilized fixed flight routes, resulting in several noise concerns from residents living in proximity to these flight routes. Recent updates to the system improved this by better utilizing the airspace, yielding better routes and noise distribution in its service area.
The company has yet to prove its model and ability to deliver at profit and was criticized for operating an investor-fueled frenzy.[32]
References
edit- ^ "Flytrex Releases 2022 Drone Delivery Customer Trends". Inside Unmanned Systems. March 28, 2023.
- ^ Drenik, Gary (May 31, 2023). "How Drones Are Shaping The Future Of Ultrafast Delivery Across American Suburbs". Forbes.
- ^ "XPRIZE Awards $1M Moonshot Award to SpaceIL". XPRIZE. Apr 11, 2019.
- ^ Lunar XPRIZE, produced by J.J. Abrams (Mar 17, 2016). "Moon Shot". YouTube.
- ^ O'Hear, Steve (August 13, 2014). "Flytrex Live Is An Internet-Connected 'Black Box' For Your Personal Drone". Techcrunch.
- ^ Crook, Jordan (July 7, 2017). "Delivering with Flytrex". TechCrunch (YouTube channel).
- ^ Mims, Christopher (April 4, 2022). "Amazon, Alphabet and Others Are Quietly Rolling Out Drone Delivery Across America". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (November 19, 2021). "Flytrex raises $40M to build its drone-based delivery service across suburbs in the US". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Yup, Drone Delivery of Retail Packages is Finally Here – in Iceland". dronelife. Aug 25, 2017.
- ^ "FAA UAS Integration Pilot Program". Jun 3, 2022.
- ^ "N.C. Selected for FAA Drone Integration Pilot Program". May 9, 2018.
- ^ McDowell, Ian (May 21, 2019). "Meals from above: Drone delivery coming to North Carolina". Yes!Weekly.
- ^ "Flytrex Flies High with a $40 Million Funding Round to Expand Its Drone Delivery Service for Restaurants". Restaurant Technology News. Jan 21, 2021.
- ^ "PHOTOS: Walmart groceries delivered by drone in Fayetteville". Fayetteville Observer. Oct 24, 2020.
- ^ "Walmart Now Piloting On-Demand Drone Delivery with Flytrex". Walmart. September 9, 2020.
- ^ Stardling, Richard (July 28, 2022). "Drone delivery zone grows in Holly Springs, Fayetteville and Raeford". The News & Observer.
- ^ "Federal Drone Pilot Program Overview". hollyspringsnc.gov.
- ^ Fisher, Joe (April 20, 2022). "Food falling from the sky? Holly Springs expands drone food delivery". WRAL News.
- ^ Seeley, David (March 29, 2022). "Flytrex and Brinker Are About to Drop Wings by Drone Into DFW Back Yards". Dallas Innovates.
- ^ "This Texas town just got a drone delivery service". WFAA. April 18, 2022.
- ^ French, Sally (April 22, 2023). "This guy gets drone delivery 3-4x times a week". The Drone Girl.
- ^ Parker, Jason (September 28, 2022). "Want lunch? Flytrex now delivering by drone in Durham, Holly Springs". WRAL Tech Wire.
- ^ Seeley, David (Feb 1, 2022). "He Sent Israel's First Spacecraft to the Moon—Now His Flytrex Drones Will Deliver Burgers to DFW Back Yards". Dallas Innovates.
- ^ Daleo, Jack (Dec 7, 2022). "Flytrex CEO Yariv Bash on The Drop Zone". FrieghtWaves, The Drop Zone.
- ^ "Package Delivery by Drone (Part 135)". Jan 30, 2023.
- ^ "Flytrex, Causey Aviation Unmanned Win Part 135 Air Carrier Certification for Long-Range, On-Demand Commercial Drone Delivery". dronelife. Jan 30, 2023.
- ^ "U.S. DOT/FAA - Decision". Regulations.gov. Jan 1, 2023.
- ^ Rivera, Tanya (October 5, 2022). "Dinner delivery by drone! It's happening here in NC". WFMY2.
- ^ Silver, David (February 23, 2021). "Drone Startup Flytrex Delivers 'A Future Of Instant Gratification'". Forbes.
- ^ Muller, Joann (March 30, 2022). "Look up: Your burrito is arriving by drone". Axios.
- ^ Fisher, Joe (May 17, 2022). "Flytrex wants to expand food delivery by drone operation deeper into Wake County". WRAL news.
- ^ Becker, Nate (Dec 2, 2023). "My Year of Eating by Aircraft". The Information.