7-Eleven Beats Amazon To Make First Ever Home Delivery By Drone

The world’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven has completed the first ever home delivery by drone, dropping off Slurpee drinks, a chicken sandwich, donuts, hot coffee and sweets.

The delivery was made just minutes after it was ordered, and was flown autonomously using GPS to reach the customer’s home address in Reno, Nevada in the U.S.

Once it reached the customer’s back garden, the drone hovered in place and lowered each package.

“My wife and I both work and have three small children ages 7, 6 and 1. The convenience of having access to instant, 24/7 drone delivery is priceless,” said Reno resident Michael, who received the delivery.

“It’s amazing that a flying robot just delivered us food and drinks in a matter of minutes”.

Retail giant 7-Eleven teamed up with drone delivery company Flirtey to make the drone delivery a reality.

The companies intend to carry out additional testing before introducing the service more widely in future.

Timed to coincide with the retail chain’s 89th birthday, the milestone is a first for home drone deliveries, beating Amazon.

Amazon has been testing drone delivery technology for some time, but has yet to make the service available to its customers.

“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 H. Delgado-Jenkins.

“In the future, we plan to make the entire assortment in our stores available for delivery to customers in minutes.”

Image credit: 7-Eleven/Flirtey