Beijing Youth Daily/Getty Images
- Tourists at the Great Wall of China can now have food delivered to them via drone for just 56 cents.
- The company said that items can reach hikers in five minutes from a nearby hotel.
- The announcement comes as China's "low-altitude economy" rapidly gains traction.
China has taken convenience to the next level by launching a food delivery drone that makes trips to the most-visited part of the Great Wall.
Food delivery giant Meituan, China's version of Ubereats, said on August 16 that it can now deliver food, drinks, and medical supplies to hikers.
The delivery fee is 56 cents, on par with Meituan's regular food deliveries by road, local news outlet Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The outlet said that tourists could scan a code near the Badaling section of the wall, about 50 miles northwest of Beijing's city center, to order sandwiches, ice cream, sun umbrellas, and emergency medication.
A drone with the goods flies from a nearby hotel rooftop to a watchtower on the Great Wall, where the app users can receive it, per CNN.
Delivery time is short — just about five minutes, CNN reported.
Delivery by air is rapidly gaining traction in China.
News of the Great Wall delivery drones comes shortly after China tested its biggest unmanned cargo aircraft to date on August 11 in its southwestern Sichuan province, according to state media CCTV.
The report stated that the plane, with a wingspan of 52.8 feet, could carry 4,400 pounds of load.
These are all part of China's latest push to boost its "low-altitude economy," which refers to economic activities that take place in airspace 0.6 miles above the earth's surface, per the South China Morning Post.
The country's air regulator forecasts that the "low-altitude economy " could be worth $279 billion by 2030, according to Reuters.
It is driven by unmanned aerial vehicles such as delivery drones, as well as crewed commercial air taxis.
There were 1.87 million unmanned aerial vehicles registered in China as of June this year, the SCMP reported, citing data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
In April, the SCMP reported that drone company Phoenix Wings had started a commercial cargo drone route to speed up the deliveries of goods between Shenzhen and Zhongshan, a 43-mile stretch in southeastern China.
The low-cost delivery service costs $5.60 per order and can be completed within 45 minutes, cutting delivery time by nearly an hour, per the SCMP.
from All Content from Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/china-drone-delivery-great-wall-meituan-speed-cost-low-altitude-2024-8
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