Swiggy to start pilot for deliveries through drones

Eyeing Drones as a Service, Swiggy is set to start its pilot on the viability of using drones, specifically for its grocery delivery service Swiggy Instamart.

The foodtech giant aims to use drones to replenish stocks between dark stores run by sellers to a common point for the customer. Post this, the delivery partner will take up the order and deliver it to the end-customer. The usage of drones will, from a practical perspective, eliminate any hassle in the middle mile.

The company has selected four vendors: Marut Dronetech, Garuda Aerospace, ANRA Technologies + TechEagle Consortia, and Skyeair Mobility. The finalisation has been done on the basis of investment in innovation, research and development, amongst other factors.

The execution, to be done in two tranches, will commence immediately in Bengaluru and the Delhi-NCR region. This will be done in tandem with Garuda Aerospace and Skyeair Mobility. Swiggy will consider expansion into the region as well as beyond it depending on how the pilot goes.

The second tranche includes Marut Dronetech and ANRA Technologies + TechEagle Consortia, and will be undertaken based on learnings and insights gained from the first tranche. The idea is to identify any gaps and shortcomings and deal with them.

In an official blogpost, Swiggy said, "We look forward to working with our partners and using the findings from these pilots as the stepping stone in unearthing possibilities for drone-assisted deliveries in the ecommerce space."