This Monday, a town with less than 50,000 residents near Indianapolis, Ind., became the site of a historical event: the first time traditional mail was ever delivered to a “smart mailbox.”
Smart mailboxes are owned by the Dronedek company. They are temperature controlled, secure, mailboxes that are cloud-connected and can be remotely accessed.
According to a press release from Dronedek, Lawrence, Ind., is the home of the first operational smart mailboxes at four locations throughout the city. Both the first mail delivery and a second delivery of McDonald’s French fries were delivered via drone to the box located at Schneider Geospatial, a software company.
“We’re showcasing how this mailbox is ready right now for traditional delivery and what it can do in the near future when federal regulations are relaxed to enable autonomous delivery,” said Dan O’Toole, founder and CEO of Dronedek. “We’re also marking the start of secure autonomous package delivery. It’s historic.”
He said that he talked with the Guinness Book of World Records about the delivery and that it “really is history.”
A report from WISHTV said that users can unlock the drone docking station with a code, a keypad, or through the phone app. The pioneering drone that dropped off mail Monday is owned by the company A2Z drone delivery, said the outlet.
According to O’Toole, his company is working with UberEats, DoorDash and other major retail delivery companies for future deliveries.
“Dronedek’s climate-controlled mailbox is a game-changer. We can’t wait to see Dronedek's become a delivery option for everyone everywhere,” said Eric Moore, a McDonald’s franchisee.
Lawrence Mayor Steve Collier said it makes sense that Dronedek chose his city for the launch, since its Fort Ben Tech Campus won TechPoint’s Rising Tech City Mira Award in 2020.
“Dronedek chose to grow with us because we are rapidly becoming known as a city that encourages tech innovation,” he said. “We’d be happy to add ‘birthplace of the smart mailbox’ to our claims to fame.”
In addition to the box at Schneider Geospatial, Dronedek smart mailboxes are now in place at the Bloomerang software company in Lawrence as well as La Haceinda and Culver’s restaurants.
Marco Dominguez, spokesperson for La Hacienda, said his restaurant staff is thrilled to prepare drone-delivered meals, too.
“This is where the food delivery business is heading,” said Marco Dominguez, La Hacienda’s spokesperson. “We’d love to be among the first restaurants in the country to offer delivery via drone.”
CEO Ross Hendrickson of Bloomerang said his team is “thrilled” to start getting their lunches via drone delivery.
“We’re a tech company, so we’re early adopters,” he said.
According to Dronedek, “industry experts project double digit growth in the drone delivery sector in the next few years if regulations ease and guidelines are established.”
“Robotic delivery at Purdue University was a novelty when that began, and now, no one even thinks about sharing the sidewalk with those devices,” said Schneider Geospatial CEO Jeff Corns. “The pandemic really increased consumer demand for delivery, and consumers want faster, more secure ways of getting their products. Dronedek solves for that in a really cool way.”
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