Residents of this Indian city will soon have drones made in India deliver their groceries

*Paromita Das

Garuda Aerospace, an Indian drone manufacturer based in Chennai, is in the midst of a frenzy of preparations. The company’s drones will be among those used in a first-of-its-kind, real-world trial in India, where drones will be used to speed up the grocery delivery process (by app-based delivery services).

Swiggy, a food tech and delivery company, recently announced that Garuda’s drones will be among those used to replenish inventory between seller-run stores and a drop point. The delivery executive would then transport the products to the customers’ location. These trails are expected to begin in Bengaluru and then move to Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
Speaking with Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace, to learn more about the work being done to facilitate this trial.

According to him, the grocery delivery trials will take place within a few weeks in Bengaluru and Hoskote, a town nearly 30 kilometers away from the former. He also stated that drone deliveries would be used for actual customer orders rather than mock orders.

We’re starting in Hoskote, a smaller town with a lower population density, to reduce the number of permissions and approvals needed for such a trial.
While drones would carry the groceries from a seller’s location to a pickup point (where the executive would collect it), the remaining trials would involve “last-mile delivery using drones,” he said.

The unmanned aerial vehicle, dubbed the ‘Garuda delivery drone,’ would be pre-fed the coordinates of the drop location and would have to deliver the payload at that point. According to Garuda Aerospace, the variant used for such deliveries can fly at a top speed of 75kmph, at a maximum altitude of 950 meters, carrying up to 15kg of payload, and will cover deliveries within a 5-15km radius. When asked why pilots are needed, Agnishwar explained that the drones are programed to do the job autonomously while avoiding obstacles such as power cables, birds, and trees. The entire operation, however, would be monitored by their company’s drone pilots, who would intervene in the event of an emergency.

The company is also in contact with Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to obtain the necessary permissions to have drones deliver groceries directly to customers who live on their premises.

“We intend to use one type of drone in which the payload is lowered to the ground while the drone remains airborne.” In another version, the drone will land and deposit the payload. Options such as collecting groceries from rooftops or other open spaces in apartment complexes are being considered. In the case of direct customer delivery, we are even considering feeding facial recognition into the drone to ensure that only the intended customer receives the order;” Agnishwar explained.

In February, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Garuda’s drone manufacturing facilities, after which the company stated that it expects to manufacture approximately 50,000 drones in India over the next year.

“We have also received signed confirmation orders for over 8,000 drones from countries such as Malaysia, Panama, and the United Arab Emirates,” the company added.

Ocgrow Ventures, based in Canada, also contributed an undisclosed sum to the firm’s Pre-Series A funding round. This investment round is expected to serve as a warm-up for Garuda’s $30 million Series A round, which is set to take place in June 2022.