UberEats: Innovation Report on Drone Delivery Service Implementation

This report explores the potential of drone delivery services for UberEats, focusing on innovation theories and practical implementation strategies. It highlights the benefits of drone delivery, including reduced road congestion, environmental pollution, delivery time, and transportation costs. The report discusses technology innovation and Schumpeter's innovation theory as frameworks for UberEats to adopt drone delivery, emphasizing the importance of fostering a culture of innovation, identifying challenges, and continuously measuring the efforts of the new service. Key steps for successful implementation include obtaining necessary certifications, conducting market research, developing a detailed plan, securing financial resources, and promoting the service to create customer awareness. Ultimately, the report concludes that drone delivery can significantly enhance UberEats' brand image, improve efficiency, and provide a safer, more convenient delivery option, especially in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Proposal

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Apply theories of innovation and idea generation to products, processes or services to develop
an innovative idea.......................................................................................................................3
Benefits of Drone Services..........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The report is based on innovation in which the benefits which is gained by organisation
through innovating new services, process and products is determined. It also includes the theory
on innovation and idea generation in order to develop effective products and services that attracts
more and more people towards the brand. A proposal is also framed for explaining how the idea
will benefit company and how innovation can successfully implemented. The Chosen
organisation for accomplishing this project is UberEats, it is one of the leading online food
ordering company, customer can easily order their food by reading menus, ratings, reviews and
paying for the item. Generally, UberEats deliver their couriers through using scooters, foot, bike
and cars. Now, company must focus on delivering food items to their customer through drone
services (Lee, 2017). It is important for the organisation to implement and provide couriers to
consumers through drone services as it helps in increasing the growth and reputation of brand.
Apply theories of innovation and idea generation to products, processes or services to develop an
innovative idea
UberEats is online food ordering and delivering platform which was established in 2014.
In order to increase the growth and profitability of business it is important for the company to
bring new innovation that enhances the brand image and reputation. For developing an
innovative ideas for Organisation it is necessary to create innovative mind and think out of the
box. UberEats must focus on delivering their courier through drone in UK. They can attract
maximum number of people through implementing drone services in UK. Company can also
gain competitive advantage by opting drone delivery. While developing an innovative idea,
company must focus on fostering the culture of innovation, identifying challenge and collect
ideas, validate, implement the idea and measure the efforts (Chang and Lee, 2018). UberEats
must create a foster of culture by encouraging and promoting employees to participate in creative
activities. It is essential for the company to make their staff feel valuable by welcoming their
ideas. Organisation must appoint a team which is responsible for idea generation and develop a
process to collect, track and prioritise the ideas. They should focus on identifying the challenges
and collecting ideas for implementing drone services. The challenges which is faced by UberEats
are technology, product issue, pricing and unanswered customer need. For implementing the
successful drone delivery, organisation must come up with different ways of generating ideas.

They can set idea box where employees can share their viewpoint and thoughts regarding the
drone delivery (Choe, Kim and Hwang, 2021). The idea generation team must also hold ideation
sessions in order to discuss the challenges regarding the drone delivery and collect ideas for
making delivery service successful. UberEats can also go through external sources of ideas such
as customer perception on social media, industry conferences, advisory boards and innovation
coach. Organisation must explore the best ideas for implementing the drone services. They
should choose latest technology and company to tie up with in order to produce effective drone
for delivering the food services. Company must address the issues wile implementing the drone
delivery in UK so that they fulfil the ned of customer and provide them healthy and safe food
delivery service (Hwang, Kim and Lee, 2021). The next step is to implement the drone service
ideas by aligning with customer needs, safety, listen to staff and obtain feedback from
stakeholders. It is important for the company to understand that ideas won't achieve expected
results. By implementing the idea, it is essential for company to measure the efforts of idea.
UberEats must continuously review the performance of its drone service and also ensure that
their customers must avail the food items in appropriate time period. Uber must revive up to test
new drone delivery services in UK in order to make delivery service easy for the customer and
company. Due to COVID 19, people prefer to stay home so that they get prevented from the
spread of disease. Drone delivery services becomes one of the important tool that helps in
fighting with COVID 19 and also help to maintain social distancing and create more resilient
supply chains. The pandemic has bring innovation in drone policy due to which people have
started to recognise that drones outweighs potential risks. Through drone services, UberEats can
deliver food items to customer by ensuring their safety and health. To implement the drone
services it is important for the company to overcome different social, technical and legislative
issues so that drone delivery can become common problem (Huang, Savkin and Huang, 2020).
The delivery drone mainly functions remotely and independently with controllers. There are
different types of delivery drone such as rotor drones, fixed-winged drone and hybrids.
Theories of innovation
Technology Innovation:
The one of the theory of innovation which is suitable for UberEats in order to provide
drone delivery service is Technology Innovation. It is one of the theory of innovation in which
new ideas generated by the company is based on technology, knowledge and capability to

produce new solution and develop it into viable entity. The new technology is basically used for
accelerating the innovation process, realising new possibilities in market, generating ideas,
model products and services to market and experiment new concepts. By implementing the
technology innovation for drone delivery services helps in making easier, faster and more
effective communication, less wastage, new sales avenue and more efficient stock management
and ordering systems. Through technology innovation, company can save the time of customer
and also safe their life by maintaining social distancing. The technology innovation also
improves the efficiency of UberEats by adopting drone delivery services. Nowadays, people are
preferring to stay at home and order the food online (Troudi and et. al., 2017). But there is
another problem of maintaining social distancing and managing limited physical contact. By
offering aerial shipping of food helps in limiting the physical contact and also reduce the risk of
transmission during the delivery. The drone technology innovation not only prevent the customer
through disease but also reach to them in appropriate time period on exact location.
Schumpeter's Innovation Theory:
Schumpeter's innovation theory is another theory which is mainly classified into two
categories. The first category generally includes the activities which can reduce the cost of
producing the drone services such as introducing new method and technology for delivering the
food services to customer in COVID 19. The second category of the theory mainly focuses on
activities which helps in increasing the demand for product such as introducing new quality of
services and designing the drone in such a way that fulfil the needs of customer. Through
implementing this theory of innovation, company can gain the profit by reducing the cost of
producing drone and increasing the demand for delivery service. UberEats must implement this
theory in order to gain more profit and increase the growth of business (Krakowczyk and et. al.,
2018). In order to enhance the profitability of business, it is necessary to create an awareness of
drone services so that more and more customer can know about the food delivery services
through drone.
Benefits of Drone Services
Company gain various benefits through drone delivery services such as it reduces the
road congestion, environment pollution, delivery time and transportation cost. Delivery drone are
considered as aerial vehicle that carry the packages and deliver to designated location. The
delivery drone is generally remotely controlled by ground controlled station. Operators of drone

can easily monitor the multiple flying bots by keeping track on every single courier delivered.
For logistic industry, road transport is considered as backbone that helps in delivering the food
items to customer. The drone services cannot be easily controlled by human due to cost and
latency of human labour. The main motive of delivery drones innovation is to reduce the delivery
time of packages and ensure the safety and health of consumers. Companies usually promise to
deliver the packages within 30 minutes but it is important to identify how and where the drone
takes off. The aerial vehicle generally have 4 to 8 rechargeable and propellers Li-Po batteries in
order to generate thrust. Main motive of delivery drone is to cut down the time of delivery
packages and deliver the food items to customer in safe manner (Poikonen and Campbell, 2021).
The travelling speed of delivery drone and their built time can reduce the range of drone around
20-30 kilometres. Drone works with road-bound vehicle's navigation system for delivering
parcel.
Reduce road congestion is one of the benefit of delivery drone as it takes lesser time as
comparison to delivery trucks for delivering the food items to consumers. UberEats must look
into drone technology in order to fulfil delivery tasks. When there is lesser delivery trucks on
road it helps in reducing the road congestion.
Reduce delivery time is another benefit which is gained by UberEats while
implementing drone services in UK. Through delivery drones, packages are sent to consumers
without getting affected by road traffic conjunction and also planned optimised route for
delivering the parcel effectively. Customers also receive the parcel within or less than 30
minutes.
Reduce environmental pollution is also a benefit which can be gained by UberEats and
also increases the reputation of brand. The aerial vehicle is considered as more convenient as
comparison to delivery trucks (Koiwanit, 2018). The drone services can drastically reduce the
impact of carbon emission and protect the environment.
Reduce transportation cost is other benefits which can be avail by company and also
increases their profitability and growth. The delivery drone gives several benefits to consumers
and businesses. It reduces the time and develop less chance of package being damaged while
transit and handling as it is pretty smooth.
Improves brand image and reputation is another benefit that can be gained by
organisation while implementing drone services. There are many competitors of UberEats but in

UK there are few companies offering delivery drone services in COVID 19. So, it is one of the
advantage for UberEats while implementing Delivery drone services for delivering food items to
consumers in safe and healthy manner. The drone services can be successfully implemented by
following few steps:
Get Certified is the first step for implementing drone delivery services, there are various
certification which is required by drone pilot.
Market research is another step which must be followed by UberEats while
implementing drone services in UK. It is important for the company to understand the potential
customers and local market for implementing successful delivery drone services.
Develop a plan is other step which requires a formal document and blueprint for
implementing successful drone services for delivering food packages to consumers.
Make a financial plan is another step which must be considered by UberEats as for
offering the drone services to consumer requires lots of investment.
Promote the drone services is also a step which helps in creating awareness among
customers regarding the delivery drones.
The idea generated by UberEats is right as it helps in preventing from disease and also
make easy for the company and consumers to avail the food items by making social distancing.
The delivery drone services helps in increasing the brand awareness and also enhance the brand
image of company due to which they can attract more and more customer towards the brand. In
the tough time of COVID 19, people are demanding safety and healthy food items in order to
remain stay safe (Leon, Chen and Ratcliffe, 2021). So, UberEats can help customer to remain
happy and safe by offering food packages through delivery drones.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it is being concluded that there are various benefits which
can be avail by companies while implementing drone services. The delivery drone helps in
increasing the growth and profitability of business in COVID 19. Through implementing the
drone services, company can safe the lives of people and prevent them from disease. It also helps
in maintaining social distancing and deliver the product in smooth and healthy manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chang, Y. S. and Lee, H. J., 2018. Optimal delivery routing with wider drone-delivery areas
along a shorter truck-route. Expert Systems with Applications. 104. pp.307-317.
Choe, J. Y. J., Kim, J. J. and Hwang, J., 2021. Perceived risks from drone food delivery services
before and after COVID-19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Huang, H., Savkin, A. V. and Huang, C., 2020. Drone routing in a time-dependent network:
Toward low-cost and large-range parcel delivery. IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Informatics. 17(2). pp.1526-1534.
Hwang, J., Kim, J .J. and Lee, K. W., 2021. Investigating consumer innovativeness in the context
of drone food delivery services: Its impact on attitude and behavioral
intentions. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 163. p.120433.
Koiwanit, J., 2018, May. Contributions from the Drone Delivery System in Thailand to
Environmental Pollution. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1026, No. 1, p.
012020). IOP Publishing.
Krakowczyk, D and et. al., 2018, September. Developing a distributed drone delivery system
with a hybrid behavior planning system. In Joint German/Austrian Conference on
Artificial Intelligence (Künstliche Intelligenz) (pp. 107-114). Springer, Cham.
Lee, J., 2017, April. Optimization of a modular drone delivery system. In 2017 Annual IEEE
International Systems Conference (SysCon) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Leon, S., Chen, C. and Ratcliffe, A., 2021. Consumers’ perceptions of last mile drone
delivery. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, pp.1-20.
Poikonen, S. and Campbell, J. F., 2021. Future directions in drone routing
research. Networks. 77(1). pp.116-126.
Troudi, A and et. al., 2017, June. Logistics support approach for drone delivery fleet.
In International Conference on Smart Cities (pp. 86-96). Springer, Cham.