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Domino's starts delivering pizza by drone, but only in New Zealand
If you measure the future in terms how pizza is delivered, the future is now: Domino's now delivers via autonomous drone. Today, the pizza chain officially launched its drone delivery service in New Zealand. The pizzaria chain has been working with Flirtey on the program for awhile now, but has only just started offering it to a select group of customers.
ICYMI: Stack your dominoes and get the pizza delivered too
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Global pizza company Domino's is teaming up with drone delivery company Flirtey to launch an actual pie delivery service, via UAV, in New Zealand. The company has passed checks by the country's Civil Aviation Authority and aims to begin tests later this year. Meanwhile virtual reality gamers are (understandably) losing it over the latest thing to make VR look incredible: Dexmo exoskeleton gloves that are worn, then react as though objects within games are actually being manipulated.
Nevada gets first FAA-approved urban drone delivery
Flirtey, the startup that did the first FAA-sanctioned drone delivery in a rural area, has replicated the feat in an urban setting. It sent out an autonomous hexacopter on a half-a-mile flight to an empty house in Hawthorne, Nevada on March 10th, carrying food, water and a first-aid kit in a box attached to a rope. It's probably not the most secure way to transport fragile objects, though, so Amazon might have to devise another method to deliver TVs or anything breakable. The drone flew with zero human intervention -- there was a pilot on standby in case things go awry, but the team programmed its flight path beforehand.
Rural pop-up hospital gets America's first drone delivery
The first FAA-ok'd parcel delivery by drone took place in rural Virginia on Friday at Wise County, Virginia's annual Remote Area Hospital. The RAH pops up every summer in Wise, which is deep in Appalachia, as a makeshift field hospital that treats hundreds of uninsured area residents for free. This year, the event's organizers, Remote Area Medical, sought to explore the roles of emerging technology in humanitarian crises and, to that end, had Australian startup Flirtey drop off 10 pounds of supplies.
Drones carrying textbooks may populate the Australian sky in the not-so-distant future, US up next
The image of drone traffic clouding the skies is still an alarming one considering the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in military operations, but it may not be an alien one in the not-so-distant future. Australian startup Flirtey is pairing drone delivery with Zookal's book sale service to -- government approval pending -- deliver textbooks via UAV. According to AU newspaper The Age, deliveries via Flirtey can be tracked over users' Android phones while en route. Of course, Flirtey and co. can't just take to the sky for commercial sales without Australian approval first; Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority still has to rule on an application from the startup. We imagine it'll mostly be questions about how Flirtey plans to handle bundles of books falling from the sky onto unknowing pedestrians. Following that approval, Flirtey's hoping to bring the project to the US -- what we'd call a much pricklier process, especially given the aforementioned military use for drones (specifically by US forces). To see the company's drones in action, head below the break for a video. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be working out plans for weaponized textbooks.
