High wind speeds couldn’t keep Arlington’s new food delivery drones — or the city’s ambitions to become a transportation innovation hub — from taking off Wednesday.
Standing next to a four-wheeled electric delivery robot and a 6-foot-long drone, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross celebrated the launch of a new pilot program that will bring Tarrant Area Food Bank packages to clients in east Arlington during the next year.
“Arlington continues to lead the wave in innovative approaches to transportation of people and goods so we can improve access and mobility for all of our residents,” Ross said. “This is cool stuff, and I love being in a city that likes to find the cool stuff to do. And this is cool stuff that benefits our residents who are in most need of getting products to their house and getting around our community.”
Using nearly $800,000 in federal grant funding, city and food bank staff are working with Estonian self-driving vehicle manufacturer Clevon, drone delivery company Aerialoop and drone software provider Airspace Link to test whether autonomous electric vehicles can be used to deliver fresh food essentials to residents. Clevon’s U.S. operations headquarters are based out of north Fort Worth’s Alliance Airport.
The University of Texas at Arlington and North Central Texas Council of Governments are also partners on the project, which will cost about $1.6 million in total.
Starting in September, officials expect to deliver 300 boxes of food with Clevon’s delivery robot, capable of driving up to 20 mph and holding six packages, and Aerialoop’s ALT6-4 VTOL Delivery Drone, which can carry almost 9 pounds.
People tend to look at urban drone delivery as happening 10 years down the line, said Santiago Barrera, Aerialoop’s chief operating officer.
“I like to start my conversations by saying: ‘The future is today,’” Barrera said. “Everybody in this room, all of us, we’re going to look back on this and say: ‘We were there. We were at the center of where things started.’”
Arlington was among 45 grant recipients selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in transportation. Transportation is one of the largest sources of emissions such as carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Partners chose to try out deliveries in east Arlington because of the high number of existing food bank clients there, city transportation planning and programming manager Ann Foss previously told the Report.
Stephen Raeside, the food bank’s chief external affairs officer, said the project is spotlighting a serious problem in the city of almost 400,000. One in four Arlington children have reported being hungry in the last year, as have one in every six adults.
Arlington officials stepped up to the challenge of feeding hungry families during the COVID-19 pandemic by organizing massive food distribution events at AT&T Stadium, Raeside said. The pandemic also forced the food bank to address what Raeside calls “last mile delivery,” which ensures that people with disabilities or without reliable transportation can get necessary food items to their homes.
“We had a population of thousands that was stuck at home, so they could watch on TV tens of thousands of cars at AT&T Stadium, but they could not get there,” he said. “We spent a lot of time exploring those last mile options, and that’s what makes this project so exciting.”
Along with showcasing technology at two May 8 events, Arlington officials are also asking residents to share opinions on the use of drones and delivery robots through an online survey.
After conducting delivery demos this fall and next spring, project partners will produce a final report to the federal government. The findings will include a cost-benefit analysis, community reactions and the estimated reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from using electric delivery. The lessons learned will be shared widely with other cities interested in rolling out similar delivery methods, Ross said.
Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said the project is not only about emissions goals or technology innovation. It’s about improving the quality of life for people in need.
“You got the best and the brightest within the university to enhance the technology, and you got the members of the community that remind us about our obligation as humans to … develop solutions for all of our residents,” Morris said. “The energy efficiency and the air quality is just a huge bonus.”
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.
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