Skip to main content

Hamburgers and beer are about to start flying through the skies of Reykjavík, Iceland

Hamburgers and beer are about to start flying through the skies of Reykjavík, Iceland

/

A new commercial drone delivery trial begins

Share this story

Drone delivery has taken another small step toward becoming a reality, thanks to a new trial taking place in Iceland. Israeli drone logistics company Flytrex has partnered with Icelandic on-demand goods service AHA to set up a small drone delivery route in Reykjavík.

Flytrex doesn’t make drones. Instead, it’s spent the past few years working on solving for the rest of the drone delivery equation. That involves working with local regulators (Icelandic Transport Authority, or Icetra, in this scenario), training employees, and most importantly, building a cloud-based network that the entire drone delivery system runs on.

As with most early drone delivery trial runs, there’s a catch: there’s only one delivery route right now, and the drone is currently only part of the equation. What Flytrex and AHA are doing is using a hexacopter (a modified DJI Matrice 600) to deliver food or other products directly across a bay of the North Atlantic Ocean that delivery drivers normally have to skirt around. Basically, someone at the AHA facility loads the delivery up on the drone, it skips over the bay, and the delivery person takes it from there. Deliveries that would have normally taken more than half an hour can now be made in a matter of minutes.

The initial trial is really limited, and still needs human help

Flytrex modified the Matrice with a cargo compartment, and the drone can carry packages up to three kilograms in weight for up to about six miles (or 10 kilometers), though it will only need to go about two during this initial trial. That’s not a lot, but it’s perfect for the kinds of on-demand goods that AHA deals with, like sushi, hamburgers, or even beer. Yariv Bash, the CEO of Flytrex, tells The Verge that he thinks of the company as “drone agnostic,” meaning it will be able to incorporate more capable drones as they hit the market.

AHA and Flytrex will start with about 20 or so of these deliveries a day, according to Bash, and he hopes to expand the partnership with AHA to include actual drone deliveries along multiple routes across Reykjavík by the end of this year. At that point, the drones will deliver straight to people’s yards or doorsteps. It won’t land, like some other companies have proposed with their delivery drone tests. Instead, Bash says it will lower the deliveries to the ground using a wire.

Flytrex is calling this the “world’s first fully operational autonomous drone delivery system,” but that claim isn’t right; Amazon has made a few commercial drone deliveries in the UK, and Flirtey has completed a few dozen in the US for 7-Eleven. And Flytrex’s system isn’t actually fully autonomous, since it still relies on a human to complete the delivery.

But Bash thinks the advantage Flytrex has over the competition in this space is that it’s selling a full stack solution. If you’re a commercial operation that wants to get into drone delivery, Flytrex is ready to provide the drones, the cloud system, the software, the training, and the maintenance. It will also help you work with local regulators to get approval. Maybe that will be enough to make Flytrex a player in what could be a big part of the delivery economy. At the very least, it’s going to help fill a few Icelandic stomachs at a faster clip.

Today’s Storystream

Feed refreshed Two hours ago Yes, it happened again.

J
The Verge
Jacob KastrenakesTwo hours ago
YouTube’s biggest defense against TikTok: money.

The company is going to start giving creators a share of ad revenue when commercials play between YouTube Shorts. The platform’s relatively generous payments are a large part of its rich creator culture, and now we’ll find out if they’re enough to lure short-form creators away from TikTok.


E
Twitter
Elizabeth Lopatto6:55 PM UTC
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, gets free promotion from Twitter’s lawyers.

Last year, Elon Musk tweeted “Use Signal,” leading to a spike in new users. Twitter’s lawyers said in a footnote in a previous filing that Musk had been messaging with investor Marc Andreessen of a16z on Signal about a Twitter investment. The problem for Twitter’s discovery process is that Signal messages can be set to auto-delete; Musk’s lawyers maintain he doesn’t ordinarily use Signal for business. Now, there’s a sealed motion that.... contains Musk’s Signal tweet. 👀


A
Alex Cranz6:32 PM UTC
If you’re into the minimalist PC build then Nvidia’s latest GPUs might present a problem.

Nvidia finally announced the 40-series—specifically the more expensive and more powerful 4090 and 4080. But big power means these are some big cards and that could be a problem for PC builders who prefer smaller, minimalist looks for their PCs. Builders at the /sffpc subreddit, that focuses on small form factor pc builds, are already worried.


B
The Verge
Barbara Krasnoff6:20 PM UTC
A lot of people seem to agree that lock screen widgets are one of the best new features of iOS 16.

So we put together a how-to on customizing your iPhone’s lock screen and wallpaper with widgets and design options, and even linking them to Focus modes. It’s easier than you’d think.


M
Youtube
Mitchell Clark6:09 PM UTC
Apple replaced the iPhone 14 Pro’s SIM slot with a block of plastic.

iFixit’s teardown of the iPhone 14 Pro gives us a look at what’s behind the Dynamic Island, and does a good job of demonstrating why the regular iPhone 14’s removable back glass is so nice.

We also get to see what’s taken the place of the SIM slot: a bare PCB, and a plastic spacer. So useful!


A
The Verge
Andrew Webster5:23 PM UTC
Deathloop is out on Xbox Game Pass today.

If you subscribe to Xbox’s Game Pass service, you should definitely check out Arkane’s Deathloop, which is out now. It was one of my favorite games of last year when it debuted on the PS5 and PC, mixing extremely satisfying action with an intricate story about time loops. Here’s the full list of the latest Game Pass releases.


D
External Link
David Pierce4:51 PM UTC
Bluetooth speakerphones are an underrated accessory.

Wirecutter has a good roundup of options, which are as good for Zoom calls as advertised, but they’re also just useful in life! I use mine roughly as a desk phone, and also connect it every time we’re doing the “everyone gather around the phone to talk to Grandma” thing. I have the Jabra Speak 510, and love it.


E
External Link
Elizabeth Lopatto4:28 PM UTC
The SPAC-lash is here.

So remember the craze for SPACs, an alternative way to take a company public? The times, they have a-changed: the SPAC King of Silicon Valley, Chamath Palihapitiya, couldn’t find acquisition targets for two of his piles of cash. One of them, Social Capital Hedosophia VI, is the largest-ever SPAC.


R
Twitter
Richard Lawler4:23 PM UTC
Use every (mega) pixel.

Halide is touted as one of the best photography apps on the iPhone, and as usual, it has a new update out to help you get the most out of the best camera available on the platform — that 48-megapixel sensor on the iPhone 14 Pro.

Version 2.9.0 of Halide is live in the App Store, with quick 48MP shooting directly to HEIC or JPG and many other new features.


N
Quote
Nilay Patel4:21 PM UTC
Speaking of CarPlay.

Dan posted about CarPlay earlier and it reminded me that wireless CarPlay has actually set Apple back in its quest to somehow take over the car market — problems with it disconnecting are the number one complaint from new car owners, according to JD Power. Something to think about as Apple continues its relentless quest to remove all the ports from our phones.

The most frequent problem reported across the industry regardless of powertrain type or brand cachet related to smartphone connectivity. Dropped connections with Apple CarPlay was the number one problem, as Android Auto complaints leveled off from last year. Further, the number of reported problems with wireless Apple CarPlay increased as well, due to the feature being offered in more cars.