無人機送外賣開始在冰島商用

Locals in Reykjavik are now getting their takeaways delivered by drone. The world's first operational drone delivery service has launched last week in Iceland's capital city.

居住在冰島首都雷克雅未克的人現在可以收無人機送來的外賣了。上週該市推出了世界上首個商用無人機送貨服務。

The drones transport a range of goods, including groceries and restaurant food, much faster than delivery vans.

這些無人機運送的產品範圍包括雜貨店和餐廳的食物，其速度比送貨車快得多。

The company behind the service plans to scale it up in the next few months to make hundreds of drone deliveries each day.

提供該服務的公司計劃在未來幾個月內擴大服務規模，每天派出無人機送貨數百次。

The drones are operated by Flytrex, an on-demand drone delivery firm based in Tel Aviv.

操縱這些無人機的公司是總部位於特拉維夫的按需無人機送貨公司Flytrex。

The company claims that deliveries that would take 25 minutes by car in Reykjavik can be completed by a drone in just four minutes.

該公司聲稱，以往在雷克雅未克需要25分鐘車程送到的貨物，現在無人機只要4分鐘就可以送達。

CEO of Flytrex, Yariv Bash, said that 'this is a working system, not a one-off wonder.'

Flytrex首席執行官Yariv Bash稱，“這是一種工作制度，不是曇花一現的奇蹟。”

Deliveries are made by Flytrex's autonomous delivery drone 'Mule', which can carry up to 6.5 pounds (three kilograms) for distances of up to six miles.

負責送貨的是Flytrex自動送貨無人機Mule，它最多可以攜帶6.5磅（3公斤）的貨物飛行6英里（約10公里）。

To make a delivery, the drone lands in a field in the suburb of Grafarvogur.

無人機在Grafarvogur郊區的一處場地降落交貨。

Here, it is met by a courier who either drives or walks, depending on the distance, to make the delivery directly to a customer's home.

這裏有一名送貨員會根據距離開車或徒步將貨物直接送到客戶家中。

The flights are held as part of a partnership with AHA — Iceland's largest shopping and retail website which operates in Reykjavik.

與這些無人機合作的是冰島最大的購物和零售網站AHA，該公司經營的業務在雷克雅未克。

The company is currently only carrying out one delivery at a time.

AHA目前一次只遞送一批貨物。

It claims, however, that multiple deliveries are possible, and one controller can fly a number of drones simultaneously.

不過，該公司稱遞送多批貨物是可能的，一臺控制器可以同時控制多架無人機。

Flytrex aims to make 20 deliveries per day and says it will be adding more over the next few weeks.

Flytrex打算每天送貨20次，且將在未來幾周內增至更多。

In the next few months, it plans to scale that up to hundreds of deliveries a day.

在接下來的幾個月中，Flytrex計劃將無人機送貨規模擴大到一天數百次。

So far, AHA has claims there has been a 60 percent reduction in drone delivery costs compared with land-based and sea options.

到目前爲止，AHA表示，相比於陸運和海運，無人機送貨的成本要減少60%。

AHA has been delivering goods since April 2011, using a fleet of delivery vehicles, focusing on products, groceries and restaurant food in Reykjavik.

AHA自2011年4月起開始通過運輸車隊提供配送服務，主要產品包括雷克雅未克市內的商品、生活用品及餐廳食品等。

But the firm saw the need for change, and teamed up with Flytrex in the hope of making deliveries faster and more efficiently.

但該公司認識到變革的需要，並聯手Flytrex打造更快速更高效的送貨服務。

Maron Kristofersson, CEO of AHA, said: 'In the recent months there has been a tremendous increase in our online delivery orders, especially in the retail products and we are forecasting a very expedited growth in the grocery deliveries in the coming months.

AHA首席執行官Maron Kristofersson表示：“最近幾個月內，我們的在線投遞訂單大幅增加，尤其是零售產品方面，我們預測，未來幾個月內生活用品配送訂單將迅速增長。”

'Over the last four years we have been monitoring online delivery solution technologies around the globe, and feel that Flytrex has a smart, safe and commercially viable solution to the problem.

“過去四年裏，我們一直在關注全球在線投遞解決方案技術，並認爲Flytrex擁有智能、安全且商業上可行的解決途徑。”

'We hope to co-operate with them not only in Iceland, but also internationally in the future.'

“我們不僅希望與他們在冰島合作，而且希望未來能在國際上合作。”