Fast food via drone takes flight

Les drones, nouveaux joujoux des entreprises de livraison à domicile.

Les drones ont été mis au point au début du XXe siècle pour un usage militaire. Au fil des ans, ils sont devenus plus petits et plus légers, et leur usage s’est considérablement accru dans des domaines divers. Depuis une dizaine d’années, les drones de loisir font fureur chez les particuliers. C’est à présent au tour des entreprises de livraison à domicile de s’emparer de cette technologie, et c’est l’Islande qui montre l’exemple...

Maron Kristófersson is looking forward to the completion of a new roof on his office in downtown Reykjavik. It is not that the old roof leaked, but rather that the new one will be heated. Mr Kristófersson is the boss of Aha, which delivers on behalf of restaurants and shops in Iceland’s capital. The heated roof will let his delivery drones take off from and land on the top of the building throughout the winter, without anyone having to clear away the snow.

2. When drones, in the form of small, electrically powered rotorcraft, came to public attention around a decade ago, various uses were proposed for them. Some of these, such as surveying, aerial photography and law enforcement, have now become routine. But one, in particular, has not. This is the idea of household deliveries. In 2013 Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s boss, said that the online retailer was testing just such a system.

1. to look forward to attendre avec impatience / completion achèvement (ici, de la construction) / roof toit / downtown centre-ville (de) / to leak fuir / to heat chauffer / to deliver livrer (ici, des repas) / on behalf of pour le compte de / to take, took, taken off décoller / to land atterrir / to clear away ici, déblayer. 2. to power alimenter (en énergie) / rotorcraft giravion (appareil volant dont la sustentation est assurée au moyen de pales tournant autour d'un axe vertical) / surveying arpentage, analyse topographique / law enforcement maintien de l’ordre, police / household delivery livraison à domicile / online retailer site de vente en ligne / Others suggested using drones to deliver medicines and fast food. Apart from various demonstration flights, however, not much then happened.

REGULATION

3. This slowness was caused less by technological inadequacy than by caution on the part of regulators. In most countries people are not allowed to fly drones above other people, near buildings or out of sight of the operator. Commercial activities are strictly regulated and some flights need clearance from aviation authorities. This has kept drone operators on a tight leash while regulators got to grips with what is, after all, a new form of aviation. Slowly but surely, however, as operators have gained experience and established a good safety record, some regulators have begun to relax the rules.

4. Iceland is a typical example. In August 2017 Mr Kristófersson teamed up with Flytrex, an Israeli

medicine médicament(s) / apart from à l'exception de / demonstration flight vol de démonstration. 3. inadequacy inadaptation, insuffisance / caution prudence / regulator organisme de réglementation / to fly, flew, flown faire voler, piloter / out of sight hors de la vue / clearance autorisation, feu vert / to keep, kept, kept sb on a tight leash soumettre qqn à une étroite surveillance / to get, got, got to grips with ici, s'attaquer à (un sujet complexe) / a good safety record de bons résultats en matière de sécurité / to relax assouplir / rule règle(ment). 4. to team up with s’associer à / drone-service company. The pair persuaded Iceland’s transport authorities to let them start a drone delivery service across Elliðárvogur, an inlet that divides Reykjavik from its eastern suburbs. Delivery drivers would load goods weighing up to 3kg into a drone on one side of the inlet and it would fly autonomously along a fixed route to land on the other side, where the goods would be collected by another team of drivers who would take them on to their final destinations.

EXPANSION

5. “We learnt a lot,” said Mr Kristófersson. One thing was the impact of weather. Iceland is often wet and windy, but the drone used for this operation could not fly in rain—and for safety reasons Aha avoided gusty conditions. This meant that the drone was grounded for about half of the time it might otherwise have been flying. Nevertheless, when it could fly it saved time and money because the flight took four minutes instead of the 20 or more required to drive around Elliðárvogur.

6. The experience they gained in running the trans-Elliðárvogur service allowed Aha and

inlet crique, anse / suburb faubourg, banlieue / to load charger / goods produits, articles, marchandises / route itinéraire / to collect ici, récupérer. 5. wet humide, pluvieux / windy venteux / operation activité, service / to avoid ici, éviter (de faire voler ses drones en cas de...) / gusty conditions ici, temps très venteux, grand vent / to ground clouer au sol. 6. to run, ran, run gérer, exploiter /

Flytrex to obtain permission to run 12 other routes across Reykjavik, including journeys over land. And operations have just been extended again, permitting drones to deviate by up to 700 metres either side of those fixed routes. This means deliveries can now be made to the backyards of registered customers who have also obtained their neighbours’ permission for flights to pass overhead.

7. Those customers can order goods using online apps and, weather permitting, select a drone delivery. Most of the shops and restaurants taking part are close to Aha’s office, where they drop off goods to be delivered. These are then loaded into a drone by a company employee, who dispatches the craft after entering the destination using a hand-held device. The

journey ici, trajectoire / backyard jardin (derrière la maison) ici, au domicile de / registered inscrit, enregistré / to pass overhead survoler (ici, leurs habitations). 7. to order commander / to drop off déposer / to dispatch envoyer / craft appareil / hand-held portatif/portable / device appareil / customer gets a message to say the drone is on its way, and can use the app to follow its progress on a map. When it arrives, the customer enters a pin into the app to accept delivery and the drone lowers its package on a line. Should someone try to pull the line, it detaches in order to avoid crashing the drone.

8. With a third drone on order—this one a waterproof version that can fly in the rain— Mr Kristófersson hopes to deliver to more places more often, with the potential of as many as 100 flights a day. Yariv Bash, Flytrex’s boss, says delivery-by-drone services which, like the Icelandic example, start with fixed routes that gradually become more ambitious, are beginning to appear in other places. If regulators continue to relax requirements for

pin = Personal Identification Number, code / to lower ici, faire descendre / package colis / line ici, câble / to crash ici, faire s'écraser. 8. waterproof étanche / gradually progressivement / requirement exigence / line-of-sight operations, long-distance delivery by drone will become particularly appealing.

line-of-sight operation ici, obligation pour l'engin de demeurer dans le champ de vision direct de l’opérateur lorsqu'il est en vol / appealing intéressant, attractif.