Drone flies meal in Amsterdam city center
AMSTERDAM, October, 2021 – Can the use of drones keep the city liveable with the increase in traffic of people and goods? Yesterday Just Eat Takeaway.com, The Dutch Drone Delta foundation, AirHub, Antea Group and Amsterdam Drone Lab investigated this question. In order to test aspects such as technology and public acceptance, in the center of Amsterdam, a meal is delivered by drone over the river IJ.
From restaurant Moon in the A’DAM Tower to the new headquarters of Just Eat Takeaway.com. That is the route, one kilometer as the crow flies. From the head office of Just Eat Takeaway.com they literally see their meal flying over the river IJ. Jitse Groen, CEO of Just Eat Takeaway.com and founder of Thuisbezorgd.nl: “As a leading tech company, we like to join forces with partners to explore innovative and sustainable solutions together. We hope that this pilot will give us good insights into the business case behind these new ways of delivery.”
Dutch Drone Delta, AirHub, Antea Group, Amsterdam Drone Lab and Just Eat Takeaway.com have started this pilot mainly with a view to the mobility challenges of the future. The pilot should above all provide new insights: how do passers-by and local residents experience this flight, what are the effects on the physical living environment and what is the added value of this form of delivery?
Using the airspace
This pilot investigates the social and economic feasibility of drone delivery. Henri Deelstra, board member of the Dutch Drone Delta and Business Line Director City & Climate at Antea Group: “The Netherlands has a huge mobility challenge for which new technology offers opportunities. We want to investigate these possibilities thoroughly, so that they can be applied in a good way in the future. Drone delivery of meals is one of the applications we are investigating. But we are just as much looking at drones that deliver medicines, resupply ships or inspect ports.”
More research into the impact on the city through robotics
In order to keep large cities liveable, various pilots are taking place in the field of digitization and innovation, including in the mobility and logistics sector. Industrial and private drone pilots within the new European legislation for the use of lower airspace are extremely useful in this regard and help research into an accessible city, now and in the future. The public sector is happy to look over the shoulders of this initiative to see how such innovations can be sustainable, social and safe.
Testing and measuring
The flight, approved by Air Traffic Control of the Netherlands and supervised by a drone operations team from the Amsterdam Police Unit and a patrol boat from Rijkswaterstaat, will be tested and measured throughout the day to determine the effects on the social and physical living environment. Several test flights are taking place in which the drone uses the permit to take off and land at Marineterrein Amsterdam. In collaboration with students from the ROC of Amsterdam, residents and passers-by are also asked about how they experience the drone flights and how they view drone delivery. Furthermore, various measurements and tests are carried out in the context of noise, mobility and safety.
About the Dutch Drone Delta foundation
The Dutch Drone Delta is a coalition of partners who have the knowledge, skills, experience and clout to realize applications with drones and work on the future of Urban Air Mobility. This drone delivery is carried out under the direction of engineering and consultancy firm Antea Group in collaboration with partner Amsterdam Drone Lab and external partner Thuisbezorgd.nl. The project management and execution of the flight is provided by AirHub. The Dutch Drone Delta foundation consists of the following partners; Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL), Transavia, Royal Schiphol Group, Port of Rotterdam, KPN, Municipality of Amsterdam, a.s.r. non-life insurance, Antea Group, Space53, ROC van Amsterdam, Royal Netherlands Aerospace Center (NLR), ANWB, NS, RAI Amsterdam, HeliFlight Holland and there is close collaboration with the Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management and Rijkswaterstaat.
