JERSEY is to be used as a testbed to develop a ‘world-class’ mail-order drone delivery service, it has been announced.
The project, during which Digital Jersey is to partner with a UK e-commerce firm, will enable Islanders to order food parcels online and have them flown straight to their door.
If the one-year project is successful, it is understood that the UK-based firm, Sherwood Ltd – essentially a much smaller version of Amazon – will apply for funds from the proposed £20 million ‘technology accelerator fund’.
The fund, which is awaiting States approval, is designed to encourage businesses to operate in Jersey and provide a platform for the Island to become a digital testbed.
The first phase of the trial will start next month, when Islanders will be able to order 1lb bags of Jersey Royals and have them dropped off at their door or in their gardens. If successful, it will be expanded to cover a wide range of supermarket products.
Sebastian Lawson, business development manager at Digital Jersey, said: ‘We are all set to go with the Jersey Royal deliveries.
‘All the branding has been done – we initially called it MoD, Mail Order Drones, but the Ministry of Defence threatened us with legal action. So we’ve called it Royal Air Force instead.’
The project follows a two-day testing programme last month, during which several bags of baking potatoes were successfully delivered to four Island homes.
Mr Lawson declined to comment on reports that one of the craft – so-called Spudnik drones – was lost after being shot out of the sky by a farmer in St Ouen screaming, ‘What do you want from us? You’ll never take us alive.’
The project team are hoping for a better start than a similar trial in Guernsey, where a drone carrying a Hello Fresh food box containing minced beef, tomatoes, onions and herbs malfunctioned and crashed, creating what one onlooker described as a ‘massive puddle of bolognese sauce’.
The incident is under investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority.
