Grab has initiated a three-month drone delivery pilot program in Singapore's Tanjong Rhu area, partnering with ST Engineering's Unmanned Air Systems business, according to a company blog post on Tuesday, January 6.

The Grab drone delivery (Beta) service will be available from Tuesday to Sunday, operating between 10 am and 6 pm, with a capacity for up to 28 drone deliveries daily.

Each round-trip flight is estimated to take an average of eight minutes. The service will be suspended during wet weather conditions and on public holidays.

Drone delivery offers a solution to geographical challenges that typically hinder delivery speed and efficiency. The Tanjong Rhu neighborhood is isolated from a concentration of restaurants by the Kallang River, which adds significant time to each delivery.

Food delivery riders remain a crucial component of the drone service, responsible for transporting orders to a designated drone launchpad at Republic Avenue and completing the final delivery after the drone lands at a specified site in Tanjong Rhu.

ST Engineering has provided safe drone handoff training to over 20 riders involved in the pilot.

Grab confirmed that the drones will not retain any footage from their navigation cameras and will operate at noise levels similar to a normal conversation. This pilot is available to consumers placing orders within Tanjong Rhu and is restricted to merchants located in Bugis, Kampong Glam, and Suntec City.

This project follows a drone delivery pilot study conducted in the Philippines in June 2024, where Grab tested a comparable hybrid model utilizing riders for pickup and drop-off at drone stations, with drones managing the intermediate flight segment.