How Chinese tech giant Meituan cracked food delivery by drone in densely built Shenzhen

Meituan is piloting meal delivery by drone in China’s tech hub. It’s not door to door yet, and still labour-intensive, but the service seems poised to take off

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Food delivery platform Meituan is using China’s tech hub, Shenzhen, as a testing ground for drone deliveries, and with residents getting used to the technology, it could soon take off in a big way. Photo: Getty images

MIT Technology Review

Published: 7:45am, 17 Jun 2023Updated: 8:28am, 17 Jun 2023

In a buzzy urban area in Shenzhen, sandwiched between several skyscrapers, I watch as a yellow-and-black drone descends onto a pickup kiosk by the street. The top of the vending-machine-size kiosk opens up for the drone to land, and a white cardboard box containing my drink is placed inside.

When I made the delivery order on my phone half an hour ago, the app noted that it would arrive by drone at 2.03pm, and that is exactly when it came.

The drone delivery service I am trying out is operated by Meituan, China’s most popular food delivery platform.

In 2022, the company engaged some 6 million gig workers to deliver billions of orders. But the company has also been developing drone delivery since 2017. And in Shenzhen, a city in southern China that’s home to a mature drone supply chain, Meituan has been regularly operating such deliveries for the past year and a half.

A Meituan drone delivers a drink to one of its “M-port” kiosks, in Shenzhen, China. Photo: Zeyi Yang

Many big corporations have had their eyes on drone delivery: Amazon first proposed the service in 2013, but its progress has been limited by regulations and a lack of demand.

Wing, owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has had more success, operating drone deliveries on three continents. And Walmart is backing several drone start-ups to experiment with delivering its products.