Expert Article-Food Delivery Platforms of the Future

Food Delivery Platforms of the Future

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could get your food delivered to your door without seeing and tipping the delivery person?  

You already probably know that it is the age of on-demand services as almost everything can be delivered. Not surprisingly, recent delivery trends have revealed that consumers increasingly value convenience when ordering food. We are now seeing many restaurants like McDonald's partner with third-party deliverers like UberEats. People are willing to pay a little extra to save time by having a delivery person bring their food to their door. The tradeoff here is a simple one: a delivery fee in exchange for the time it would have taken to drive back and forth to the restaurant. Millennials in particular are seeking for convenience as 74% of millennials have reported that they prefer delivery service. As a result, food and food service brands continue to actively work to simplify grocery shopping and food delivery processes. Furthermore, many of these brands are exploring robotic and autonomous technologies to expedite delivery times. 

Here are the delivery platforms that will most likely be in use in the United States in the near future:

• Self-driving delivery
• Robomart 
• Drone delivery 
• Automatic restock 

Self-driving delivery 

Your food delivery could one day arrive via a self-driving vehicle!

A 2017 Intel study estimated that the autonomous vehicle industry will be worth $7 trillion by 2050. As the food delivery service is expanding, there are many brands that are investigating the new technology. For example, Toyota has committed to an investment of $1 billion in the self-driving technology; it is teaming up with Pizza Hut to create self-driving delivery trucks that could begin testing by 2020. In addition, Ford has partnered with Postmates on self-driving delivery pilots; people who order through the Postmates app could get their food delivered by Ford self-driving cars. With self-driving vehicle delivery, you would get food delivered to your door literally without seeing and tipping the delivery person. 


Robomart 

Don't trust the quality of produce delivered to your place? How about having a whole store delivered to your home, so that you can pick the produce? 

If you would like to have fresh fruits and veggies delivered to your place, a startup company called Robomart may just provide you with the grocery platform that you desire. Robomart, a self-driving, nearly fully autonomous grocery store on wheels, will bring online produce shopping to your front door and have you pick your groceries from the vehicle. It is a fully electric drivetrain that can travel about 80 miles on a full charge with a top speed of 25 mph. To use the service, shoppers may simply download the app. Once it arrives, the shopper opens the door and grabs the food. Built-in sensors are able to tell which products have been removed from the vehicle and the car will bill the shopper accordingly through the app. The concept seems rather futuristic, but the company is in the application process of obtaining an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and plans to launch a pilot program by summer 2018.

Drone delivery 

It is 2018. Where are the pizza delivery drones?

It is coming, but not immediately. Domino's and its drone delivery partner Flirtey made the first drone delivery in November of 2016. Not surprisingly, many major retail and logistics companies around the world are testing the concept of drone delivery service. Amazon has even planned to deliver customers’ orders through its Prime Air delivery program. If this is truly achievable, it could transform the world of delivery. Because the drone is battery-powered, it would definitely reduce fuel consumption and large emissions. However, it would not be widespread until 2020 because of the regulatory barriers and consumer acceptance issues. From 2021, commercial drone deliveries are expected to begin to gradually expand to parts of the US. 


Automatic restock

Getting groceries delivered to your home is not new. But what about having someone deliver right to your fridge when you are not home?

Even though we are able to have groceries delivered to our homes, we don’t always want produce in particular to be delivered when we are not home. After all, when it is hot outside, the produce might go bad. Walmart is working to resolve this problem. Walmart tested a so-called store-to-fridge delivery service in September 2017. Here’s how it works: Having partnered with the smart security company August, which makes locks that you can monitor on your phone, Walmart will reach out to customers who want to receive the service and install a door bell camera. If you are not at home when the driver rings the doorbell, the driver will receive a one-time passcode which has been already authorized by the customer. The whole process of the delivery person coming in and going out will be recorded and the customer will also be notified when the doorbell rings so they can monitor it live on their phone. Once the driver leaves, the door locks automatically. 

Works Cited 

“Automatic Restock.” Mintel, 3 October 2017, academic.mintel.com.libproxy1.usc.edu/trends/#/observation/857281.

“Could Self-Driving Cars Change Delivery?” Fortune, fortune.com/2018/01/09/ford-postmates-autonomous-vehicles-delivery/.

Doughnut Drone Delivery. Mintel, 7 June 2017, academic.mintel.com.libproxy1.usc.edu/trends/#/observation/837401.

Meola, Andrew. “Shop online and get your items delivery by a drone delivery service: The future Amazon and Domino's have envisioned for us.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 July 2017, www.businessinsider.com/delivery-drones-market-service-2017-7.

Robinson, Melia. “A robotics startup called 'Robomart' wants to replace Postmates and Instacart with self-Driving grocery stores.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 10 Jan. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/robomart-is-the-self-driving-grocery-store-2018-1.