|

Milk tea orders are delivered by the drone. [Photo/jiaxingren.com]

The 2024 third Yangtze River Delta (Haining) camping lifestyle and outdoor equipment import and export expo recently took place by Juanhu Lake in Haining, a county-level city of Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. A small drone delivery station at the expo quickly attracted many curious individuals.

"Ordering a cup of milk tea on my phone and having it delivered by a drone in just three minutes, without any delivery fee—it's exciting, efficient, and so cool!" exclaimed Ms Wang as she received her first drone-delivered milk tea by Juanhu Lake.

The drone delivery station is located on an open space in the southeast corner of the Juanhu Lake Park lawn. It features QR codes of five nearby fast-food and milk tea shops. Customers can scan the codes, place their orders, and have drones swiftly deliver their meals to the station.

Lunchtime saw an increase in the number of people using the service, many of whom praised its efficiency and style. "If this could be integrated into our daily lives, it would be fantastic!" remarked a visitor.

At the expo, two medium-sized multi-rotor drones from Zhejiang Chaoying Technology Co Ltd, based in Haining, provided the innovative service.

"This is our first time offering drone delivery service at the camping festival, and the response has been very positive," said a company representative.

Each medium-sized multi-rotor drone can carry up to 40 kilograms and fly a distance of over 20 kilometers. During the expo, they completed over 20 deliveries daily, reducing delivery times and addressing the issue of inaccessible delivery points at the event venue. The company plans to expand its low-altitude services to include public service and emergency routes, logistics and delivery routes, and sightseeing routes.