Swedish telecom operator Tele2 is working with German company Foodora to pilot autonomous droids connected with 5G for home deliveries.

The pilot means that the Doora droid has taken its historic first rolling step to carrying out home deliveries in Stockholm.

IoT is a concept now being applied to Swedish home deliveries. IoT means machines, vehicles, household appliances and other things are equipped with built-in connected sensors and processors. Foodora predicts the number of home deliveries will increase significantly in the future, which is why it is working to find smoother and better technology.

By connecting to Tele2’s 5G network, the Doora droid can perceive its surroundings, communicate and thus create a situation-adapted service for self-driving home deliveries. Doora has a camera that sends information via 5G in real time to Foodora, which can track and trace the robot, while quickly sending data to and from Doora.

“It is exciting that we, together with the innovator Foodora, can carry out this test and get the opportunity to show the concrete benefits for both consumers and companies with 5G and IoT, such as stability, fast response rate and higher speeds,” said Stefan Trampus, executive vice president at Tele2. “With Doora, we really show what we can do with 5G, both now and in the future.”

The Q-commerce droid Doora is being tested around Stureplan and can transport both food and other products weighing up to 20kg. The plan is that the pilot will continue in the spring.

“Foodora is a pioneer in many areas and we are a fast-moving tech company that wants to lead the change forward,” said John Denbratt, chief logistics manager for Foodora in Sweden. “It feels exciting to work with the forward-looking company Tele2 to create an innovation for third-generation digital commerce. Foodora’s vision is that several hundred Dooras will roll in Sweden in the near future.”

Made by Italian firm Yape, Doora travels at up to 6km/hr, has a battery life of eight hours and a charging time of four hours

The owner of Foodora is Delivery Hero, which operates in 50 different markets around the world.  Launched by Foodora in May 2020, Q-commerce means customers can, in addition to restaurant food, also have beauty products, books and technology delivered to their home within 30 minutes.