Burritos in the Sky: Chipotle Tests Drone Deliveries

Late previous year competitor Amazon debuted a prototype, but was less specific about the timeline for a real-world deployment – saying only that “We will deploy when and where we have the regulatory support needed to safely realize our vision”.

“Project Wing will use self-guided hybrids that can fly like a plane or hover like a helicopter”, the report notes. Instead, test participants will order from a special kiosk on campus, prompting the drones to take off from Chipotle food trucks and ultimately lower the packages to the ground.

If you’re not using drones to deliver Chipotle burritos, what really is the point of them anyway?

Dave Vos argued that Project Wing chose burritos for the testing process because they represent more of a challenge. The flights will also offer insights into a customer’s experience of receiving food delivered by air. The data will help inform regulations governing drone usage for commercial and other purposes in US airspace. This will serve as the basis for new rules in drone deliveries.

According to Vos, the Chipotle trial will be completely automated from start to finish during food runs, but a human “pilot” can step in at any time to take over the controls should a problem arise. The rules state that drones cannot fly over people now, which makes this endeavor even more of an experiment.

Companies including Amazon have high hopes for relying on drones as a delivery mechanism, partly as a way to reduce carbon emissions but also to speed up delivery times.

Alphabet sees the technology as potentially creating sweeping changes to society and the economy, it said in a statement. Carbon emissions will be reduced.

“It sounds simple, but it’s not”. This early-stage research effort with Project Wing will address many of the numerous policy and safety issues that are now under development across the industry and by the FAA. The university has been involved in various experiments for transportation technologies, including drone use, as it is part of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership.

For some lucky Virginia Tech students, there’s a whole new way to get their Chipotle fix.