Drones Now Delivering to the Great Wall

Meituan has launched a drone delivery service to Badaling – one of the most visited sections of the Great Wall.

Tourists will now be able to receive packages of food, drinks or even medication while walking the Wall.

The drones can carry up to 2.3kg (5lb) at a time, and will even be able to operate during mildly windy or rainy weather.

Customers can order from a variety of merchants in the area, but the drones will only deliver to a fixed landing site – they won’t be dropping the packages directly into your arms.

The drop-off site is located on the top of a watchtower, where there are workers to receive and distribute the orders – they will also deliver the parcels from the landing site to customers along the ramparts of Badaling.

Image via Ai

Although drone delivery services are not new to China (JD.com began testing their aerial delivery back in 2016), this marks the first route ever to open in Beijing.

Meituan will initially be offering free deliveries during their trial run of the service, but they say following this period the cost will be similar to their regular delivery fees.

Until now, commercial facilities have been banned from operating on the actual Wall due to planning restrictions meant to protect the historic site.

Visitors usually buy refreshments at hiked prices from locals who have lugged up their goods – and let’s be real, they deserve the extra cash for their efforts.

Image via Ai

Unfortunately, those hardworking individuals might soon lose their livelihood as the government has set aggressive goals to develop China’s ‘low-altitude economy’ by 2027 – the ‘low-altitude economy’ generally encompasses manned and unmanned activities within the airspace below 1,000m (3,280ft). 

These goals have led to a string of cities opening new drone delivery routes. Shanghai recently set up two routes in the city’s Yangpu District that deliver to a bustling commercial zone and a popular public park. 

Despite the novelty of driverless taxis and drone deliveries, one can only wonder how these new services will be received by the masses as China grapples with increasing unemployment rates; RMB20 might seem like a lot to pay for a bottle of Nongfu Spring while hiking the Wall, but it just might be a price worth paying to keep the robots from taking over.

[Cover image via Xinhua]