The traditional pizza delivery boy could soon be a thing of the past if a revolutionary new plan by Domino’s comes to fruition.
The popular chain has teamed up with an advertising agency to build a drone which is capable of delivering pizzas to its customers by flying them through the air.
The ‘Domicopter’ bypasses crowded streets to reach its target within minutes – and still keeps its cargo piping hot on arrival.
Domino’s recently approached digital agency T + Biscuits to help it come up with an attention-grabbing new way of delivering its signature pizzas.
The agency decided to look into adapting a drone which could bear the weight of two pizzas and transport them around 100m above the ground.
T + Biscuits found that a drone built by AeroSight to carry video cameras was perfect for the job, and set about transforming it into the first Domicopter – though it was nearly named the ‘Pepperdroney’.
They chose Guildford in Surrey to be the site of the first test flight, and commissioned staff at the local Domino’s to cook up two large pepperoni pizzas for the experiment.
The pizzas were loaded into an insulated bag to keep them warm on their pioneering journey, which would take them four miles to their destination.
Two cameras mounted on the drone chronicled every moment of the 10-minute flight, which ended successfully with the warm treats delivered into the hands of a happy customer.
The drone was controlled by a pilot on the ground, although in the future it could use GPS to reach its destination without help from any human operators.
Engineers are now hoping to increase the weight which can be carried by the drone, so that it can transport drinks along with pizzas.
T + Biscuits founder Tom Hatton told NBC News the experiment had proven successful, saying: ‘If anything it went quicker than a pizza boy.
‘We were amazed at how easy it was going to be.’
However, for the time being there is little prospect of the pizza drone taking over entirely – the project was more of a publicity statement than a short-term business plan.
‘Domino’s is an innovative company that is constantly looking at ways to deliver pizzas as quickly as possible,’ a company spokesman said.
‘It could be great to think that one day pizzas could fly!’
