Uber bets tens of millions on drone deliveries with Israel's Flytrex
The Israeli startup is one of only four companies cleared by the FAA to fly beyond visual line of sight.
Uber Technologies and Israeli drone company Flytrex announced on Thursday a strategic partnership, marking Uber's first investment in the drone delivery sector. The ride-hailing and delivery giant is estimated to be investing tens of millions of dollars in Flytrex.
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Flytrex, founded in 2013 by Yariv Bash and Amit Regev, has become a leader in autonomous drone delivery. Bash is also known as one of the founders of the SpaceIL association. Earlier this year, Flytrex appointed Noam Bardin, former CEO of Waze, as its Executive Chairman.
“I joined the company as an advisor and recently became its Executive Chairman. I was drawn to Flytrex because people often feel they are paying too much for deliveries, and here we have a technology that changes cost structures and delivers food within five minutes of leaving the restaurant,” Bardin told Calcalist. “The company builds its own drones under FAA regulation and is run in a very unique way. There are very few companies with licenses like ours, such as Google and Amazon. We currently operate mainly in Texas. This is a turning point, like the iPhone was for transportation. Now autonomous vehicle companies like Waymo have gone live, and drones are next. There’s no reason to use a large car to deliver a single meal, especially in American suburbs with long distances between restaurants and customers. The economics just don’t work.”
Bardin added: “Uber will be our partner, and they have made a very significant investment in Flytrex. By the end of the year, we will launch the service together. From the company’s perspective, this will trigger a wave of hiring. We aim to double our headcount, which today includes 50 employees in Israel and 20 in the United States.”
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The new service, expected to launch in select U.S. Uber Eats pilot markets by the end of the year, will integrate Flytrex’s autonomous drone system with Uber’s logistics platform.
Uber said its long-term goal is to build the world’s most flexible and multimodal delivery network, expanding beyond cars, bikes, and couriers to include robots and, now, autonomous air deliveries. Flytrex is one of just four drone operators authorized by the FAA to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). Together with Uber, it aims to cut delivery times to minutes while reducing traffic congestion and emissions.
