These days, consumers can order anything right to their doors through a mobile app or website. All they have to do is wait for the driver to arrive and pay an additional fee for the delivery service. Despite how convenient on-demand delivery already is, technologists are engineering a way to make it even more efficient.
LA-based Flyby Robotics develops end-to-end solutions for automated drone delivery, and it secured a $4 million pre-seed round on Wednesday led by MaC Venture Capital. The drone automation company also announced plans to launch its tech with retail food partners in Mesa, Arizona.
Flyby’s pilot launch will bring robotic delivery service to Nekter Juice Bar, MAD Greens and Tokyo Joe’s, each of which are popular chains in the Phoenix area, Flyby’s COO and co-founder Cat Orman said.
Flyby’s package deployment system enables drones to gently winch fragile products like smoothies, salads and sushi down to a customer’s doorstep, according to a company release. The system is designed to maintain a product’s quality during flight and delivery to ensure the customer’s items remain perfectly intact.
When Orman and Flyby’s co-founder and CEO Jason Lu first came up with the idea for Flyby, they were students at Yale University. In 2020, the pair worked together at a healthtech incubator, which Lu founded. Later, during a policy and technology class, they realized the potential drone tech could have on medicine delivery.
“We were really interested in the vision of consumer-facing drug delivery because we wanted to bring the instantaneous fulfillment of the digital world into actual physical reality,” Orman told Built In. “We’re starting off with food delivery because we were hungry college students when we started this, and I think that’s where consumers care about the really rapid delivery times that drones can promise.”
In addition to couriering food, Flyby’s drone delivery tech has applications in various other industries, including pharmaceuticals and emergency response, Orman said. The company strives to revamp the retail sector by providing a solution that’s less costly and much quicker than vehicle delivery. During its live pilot program, customers will be able to request drone delivery for a $3 fee and receive their order in about four minutes or less, according to Flyby.
“What drone delivery promises is delivery fulfillment that’s faster, more affordable and more sustainable,” Orman said. “So by using just a very small, ultra-quiet flying robot to fulfill on-demand delivery, we can reduce traffic, as well as provide a more affordable experience to both restaurants, merchants and customers.”
Outfitted with its new pre-seed capital, Flyby plans to further develop its tech. Currently, the Flyby’s system supports Level 3 autonomy, meaning the drones can fly independently most of the time, though a human pilot can take over in rare circumstances, Orman explained. The company wants to achieve Level 4 autonomy where a human operator would verify the device’s high-level mission parameters then allow the drone to execute the flight entirely on its own.
The funding will also help Flyby expand its pilot programs into more cities, Orman said. As it fuels this growth, the LA-based company is continually hiring new talent to its current team of 10 people.
