Flirtey drone assists 7-Eleven’s first store-to-home drone delivery

Australian drone startup Flirtey has partnered with the world’s largest convenience retailer store 7-Eleven for the its first store-to-home drone delivery in the US.

Coinciding with 7-Eleven’s 89th founding anniversary last week, Flirtey drones made two successful deliveries from a Reno, Nevada, 7-Eleven store to a customer’s residence. The delivered goods include Slurpee drinks, a chicken sandwich, donuts, hot coffee and 7-Select candy.

The Flirtey drone was driven autonomously using precision global positioning system, and once at the customer’s backyard, the drone gently lowered each package.

Historic partnership

According to Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeny, the July 11 delivery for 7-Eleven marked the company’s largest commercial relationship to date.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have 7‑Eleven, the largest convenience chain in the world, embracing new technologies and working with us at Flirtey to make drone delivery a reality for customers all over the world,” Sweeny said in a statement.

“This is just the first step in our collaboration with 7‑Eleven. Flirtey’s historic drone deliveries to date have been stepping stones to store-to-home drone delivery, and today is a giant leap toward a not-too-distant future where we are delivering you convenience on demand,” he added.

After the successful attempt, Flirtey and 7-Eleven are planning to expand drone delivery tests.

““This delivery marks the first time a retailer has worked with a drone delivery company to transport immediate consumables from store to home,” said 7‑Eleven EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer Jesus Delgado-Jenkins.

“In the future, we plan to make the entire assortment in our stores available for delivery to customers in minutes. Our customers have demanding schedules, are on-the-go 24/7 and turn to us to help navigate the challenges of their daily lives. We look forward to working with Flirtey to deliver to our customers exactly what they need, whenever and wherever they need it,” he added.

According to Bloomberg, Flirtey Technology Pty Ltd. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Sydney. The company has set up office in Nevada as it works with NASA, the University of Nevada, The New Jersey Test Site and Virginia Tech to develop the drone technology.

Flirtey flew its first drone delivery demonstation on July 17, 2015 after securing authorisation from the US Federal Aviation Administration. A Flirtey drone delivered 24 packages of urgent medical supplies in Wise, Virginia.

Flirtey also marked its first ship-to-shore drone delivery on June 22 when it helped Dr. Timothy Amukele at Johns Hopkins collect medical samples from the New Jersey coastline and delivered it back to ship. The drone went back to shore with medical supplies.

Watch: Flirtey's first drone delivery in the US