Pakistan’s most well known food delivery company, Foodpanda launched a pilot project to deliver food via customized ‘pandafly’ drones on Friday in Islamabad.
Conducted in association with the office of the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, the event took place in F-9 park.
CEO Foodpanda Nauman Sikander Mirza spoke on the occasion and said, “Foodpanda’s core ethos is to constantly innovate, stretch the limits and leverage technology to find great solutions for meeting the evolving needs of the people.”
He also revealed that the company is still working on the technical, operational, and legal matters of the project before they actually launch drone delivery for customers. Everything needs to be “thoroughly evaluated and locked in,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Muhammed Hamza Shafqaat had teased the launch of this pilot project in a tweet on September 30. “Using drones to deliver food in Islamabad. Coming soon…” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Shafqaat said, “e-commerce and the use of technology to serve the citizens is definitely the future, and the Islamabad civil administration stands committed to support anyone who takes the initiative to provide greater convenience and facilities for the public.”
He also posted a video of the event on his Twitter profile.
Pandafly is the first of its kind commercial drone that is being made in Pakistan. The project is thus supporting the development of local technology.
The first drone delivery that ever took place was back in 2015. A drone startup called Flirtey delivered medicines and other pharmaceutical products to a medical clinic in Virginia, USA. In collaboration with Dominos Pizza, Flirtey also delivered pizzas in New Zealand and today it is carrying out food deliveries in partnership with 7-eleven, a convenience store.