• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Skip to navigation
Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Connect
    • Custom Events
    • Slack
    • RSS
    • Send us a Tip
  • Advertise
  • Consulting
  • About
The Spoon
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Advertise
  • About

Uber Accelerating Its Drone Food Delivery Ambitions

by Chris Albrecht
October 22, 2018October 22, 2018Filed under:
  • Delivery & Commerce
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Uber really wants to deliver your burger (or burrito, or whatever) by drone, and is accelerating its plans to make that happen. According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, Uber recently ran a job posting seeking a candidate who could get delivery drones up and running as early as next year, and commercially operational in numerous cities by 2021.

That job listing, titled “Flight Standards and Training,” has since been deleted, but it illustrates how serious Uber is about the food delivery space and its own ambitions within it.

The idea of drone delivery isn’t new, and Uber is among a number of companies including Alphabet (née Google) and Amazon looking to use drones for delivery. Amazon was recently issued a patent for in-flight recharging of drones, and even IBM has a patent for coffee delivery by drone based on your mood.

If successful, having its own fleet of drones could help push Uber’s food delivery business, Uber Eats, ahead of the pack in the fiercely competitive restaurant delivery sector. Uber Eats has been growing like a weed and is reportedly at a $6 billion sales run rate. But it faces competition from incumbents like GrubHub, which recently acquired Tapingo to snag college student customers, as well as upstarts like DoorDash, which has raised more than $780 million this year alone to expand its delivery operations (which probably will include drones).

Uber’s ambitions may run headlong into reality, however. Rules and regulations around drone deliveries still need to be worked out by the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as state and city governments. But as The Journal points out, Uber is eyeing a potential IPO next year that could value the company at $120 billion. Being early with drone deployment to boost its already successful Uber Eats division could help a positive narrative around its public offering.

And, of course, there is the question of whether people will want food delivered by drone, or towns will want fleets of drones constantly buzzing overhead.


Related

Zomato Acquires TechEagle Innovations for Drone Delivery of Food in India

Restaurant discovery and food delivery app Zomato announced yesterday that it has acquired drone developer and fellow Indian startup, TechEagle Innovations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Zomato currently works with 75,000 restaurants to deliver food in 100 cities in India. With the TechEagle acquisition, Zomato plans to build out…

Burritos by Air Highlight Noisy Headaches Associated with Drone Delivery

There was a lot of chatter about drones this past year: Uber Eats is accelerating its drone ambitions, Zomato acquired a drone company in India, Amazon got a patent for in-flight drone recharging. There was so much activity that my colleague, Jenn Marston predicted that 2019 will be a big…

Uber Aims to Start Testing Drone Food Delivery in San Diego This Summer

We knew Uber was accelerating its drone program, and as of today, we have a few more clues as to just just how fast the company is going. Bloomberg got a first-hand look at Uber Elevate, the company's drone division, and how it would work for food delivery. Though the…

Get the Spoon in your inbox

Just enter your email and we’ll take care of the rest:

Find us on some of these other platforms:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
Tagged:
  • drone
  • drone delivery
  • Uber
  • Uber Eats

Post navigation

Previous Post Edible Carving: The World’s First 3D Printing Restaurant
Next Post Pulp Addiction: Pulp Pantry Upcycles Juicing Remnants into Sweet and Savory Snacks

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get The Spoon in Your Inbox

The Spoon Podcast Network!

Feed your mind! Subscribe to one of our podcasts!

From Aspiring Pro Surfer to Delivery Robot CEO with Coco’s Zach Rash
Mark Cuban to Speak at SKS 2025
This Culinary Tech Inventor Thought He Could Build Some Parts For His Latest Gadget in the US. Then He Called Around.
Thermomix Has Long Been a Leader in Cooking Automation, But Now They’re Going Full Robot
Is IFT’s Launch of an AI Tool For Food Scientists an Indicator of Where Trade Associations Are Going in Age of AI?

Footer

  • About
  • Sponsor the Spoon
  • The Spoon Events
  • Spoon Plus

© 2016–2025 The Spoon. All rights reserved.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.