South Korean startups team up with convenience stores for drone delivery

South Korean convenient stores are ramping up competition in the business of drone delivery. 

The initial target regions include the Seoul suburbs and Gangwon Province, where the restrictions on flying drones are not as strict as in more populated areas. 

Pablo Air announced Tuesday it had a launch ceremony with international convenience store franchise 7-Eleven for the opening of a drone delivery station in Gyeonggi Province.

The drone service will run from the station inside the 7-Eleven Gapeyong Arboretum location to Adonis Pension, a popular guesthouse about 1 km away. 

Established in 2018, the startup is in the business of expanding drones’ range by using swarm flight technology. 

Customers can place orders on the drone-powered delivery app Allivery, a portmanteau of all and delivery, from the convenience store. The drone will fly for approximately three minutes to the tiny landing strip at the Adonis Pension. 

Customers can pick up their orders with a QR verification.

The drone delivery service will be available from 10 a.m. through sunset every Tuesday through Saturday. The pilot run is scheduled for now through the year’s end. 

There are no extra charges and no minimum purchase requirement for the delivery.

The drone can carry up to 5 kg. At the maximum weight, the longest it can fly is for 25 minutes at an average speed of 36 km per hour. 

It is 99 cm in both width and length, with a height of 51 cm. 

The technology used is a web-based Professional Ground Control Station (GCS) equipped with Pablo Air’s in-house PAMNet software. 

“We incorporated a complementary triple network technology using RF, LTE, and satellite to ensure the safest delivery,” a Pablo Air employee said. 

Last week, homegrown convenience store franchise CU began drone delivery service in Gangwon Province, in collaboration with drone software developer Bohemianos. 

The service delivers from the CU Yeongwol County location to a glamping site some 3.7 km away. 

The two companies designed special delivery items for the drone launch that include camping site favorites, such as instant noodles and popular snacks. 

The delivery takes about 10 minutes, the startup explained.

Write to See-Eun Lee at see@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.