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Delivery drones are taking to the skies in Silicon Valley, dropping off chocolate bars, chips and canned coffee in small packages outside people’s homes.
Matternet, a Mountain View-based company, has launched a pilot program that sends fully-automated drones to customer’s homes to deliver items quickly and with zero-carbon emissions.
For years, Matternet has been operating in Europe and other parts of the U.S., using drones to transport medical specimens between hospitals and laboratories.
But it had not entered the home delivery market until the launch of a pilot program last year, according to Matternet CEO and founder Andreas Raptopoulos.
“It’s completely new because we’re going into people’s backyards,” Raptopoulos said.
Since August, the drones have been delivering lightweight packages to people’s homes three afternoons a week in Mountain View and Sunnyvale, operating within a three-mile radius of the company office on Ravendale Drive.
The aircraft, which are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, can travel up to 12 miles at a maximum altitude of 400 feet and carry payloads weighing a little more than four pounds, according to the company website.
Now Matternet is planning to scale up its operations with a commercial partner so that it can deliver more items to more people, and over a bigger area. Raptopoulos declined to disclose the details of the expansion but said it likely would be occurring over the next few months.
The possibility of more inventory and delivery hours was welcome news to Ben Levitt, a Mountain View resident who has been using Matternet’s drone service for about two months.
Levitt fits the profile of a typical Matternet user, which is a “techie dad,” according to Rachel Brand, a marketing intern for the company.
A self-described drone hobbyist, Levitt signed up to the Matternet delivery platform when he learned about the service. Getting packages by drones has been fun and easy, Levitt said, adding that his 12-year-old daughter and friends have been impressed by it too.
Currently, Matternet offers a few select food and drink items from a store, which are ordered online by customers and delivered to their doorstep, driveway or other designated spot. Each delivery is a single item to maximize the number of trips to collect information about the experience, Raptopoulos said.
The package is lowered to the ground using a tether and the customer is notified that it has been delivered. But the notification is often not needed, as watching the delivery is part of the fun, Levitt said.
At one point, Matternet had a special promotion with The Midwife and the Baker and was delivering fresh pastries by drones. For Levitt, the gentleness of the delivery was particularly noteworthy. The croissants didn’t get crushed, he said.
Deliveries also happen quickly, arriving on average about two to three minutes from when they are ordered, Levitt said.
There is some noise made by the drones but it is less than he expected, Levitt said, noting that neighbors notice it when they are outside and look up but haven’t complained. Levitt said he also had to reassure a neighbor that a drone was not spying on her when making a delivery to his home.
Raptopoulos addressed the privacy concerns, noting that it was part of the company’s efforts to bring more awareness to the community. “This is delivery only,” he said. “We’re not taking footage out of any locations we fly.” The only time an image is captured is when a package is being lowered as proof of delivery.
Another hiccup that Levitt noted was inclement weather. There were a few times when deliveries did not occur because of heavy rain and high winds, he said.
But this has not detracted from Levitt’s enthusiasm for drone drop-offs, which he says works better than other kinds of courier services. “It’s convenient, it’s useful and it’s the best way to get things delivered in perfect condition and in a timely manner,” he said.
For Raptopoulos, turning drone deliveries into a commonplace experience is the ultimate goal. “Once people understand what this is and understand how it works, it then becomes like a utility, almost. It fades into the background, which is exactly what we want to see happening,” he said.
