China Is Living In 2050! Testing Food Drone Delivery In Shenzhen

We are about to get lunch delivered by a drone. Yes, you did hear her correctly. We are currently in Shenzhen, a mega city in South China.

We’ve come to Central Park, and here you can actually get a food drone delivery. Something that feels so wrong but yet so right. I believe I’m going to feel like a wee kid getting this.

I’m a drone fanatic. I absolutely love them, so for me this is literally a dream come true. However, first we have to try and find the drone drop-off area, and then we’ll get our order in.

The Central Park area here is massive, and it’s broken up into many sections. We have no idea where the drone machines are located. Here’s how it works: you go over to what looks like some sort of big vending machine.

We know it’s yellow and gray, and then you’re able to scan a QR code. You go through a very specific app that we’ll tell you about in a few minutes. Once we figure out how it all works, you’re able to put in your order.

The drone takes off from this machine, collects your food, comes back, and drops it into this vending machine-type thing. Then you sit in the park and have a lovely picnic with your drone-delivered lunch. That’s the plan; that’s the goal.

We don’t know if it’s going to go as smoothly as we think. We’re hoping it’s all going to be okay. But as Aisling said, we need to find the machine first.

We have no idea where to start. I tried looking up online for some sort of map with drone machine locations. I could find no information online, so we’re taking a bit of a shot in the dark here.

We’re just going to walk through the park until we find it. This might have actually been a much easier task than I originally thought. I am 90% sure I can see it off in the distance.

I can see a big stand that is gray and yellow. We’re going towards it now. Fingers crossed that's it because this man is hungry!

I can see it right over there. Let’s go, man. I’m actually so excited for this!

I do believe there are multiple of these machines dotted throughout Central Park, but I can’t believe we found it this easily. And there it is, man! Okay, now what we need to do is figure out how this works.

This is basically what we were describing as the vending machine type of structure. It’s this big pod-like box in the middle of the park, just standing by itself. We can see at the very top where the drone is sitting.

Over here, there’s a big stand with all the information. I’m going to go translate it now. Everything is obviously not in English; it’s all in Chinese, so we need to figure out how this works.

I downloaded the app in advance, so the app, I believe, is pronounced Meituan. It’s a Chinese-based app. You download it, and everything’s in Chinese, as I said.

You have to figure out how to place your order. On the sign here in front of us, we’ve got some options for what we can order. I already see combo meals.

We’ve got KFC, KFC coffee. You can get a 7-Eleven delivery, and even a Subway delivery! This girl is a Subway fanatic.

She loves it. I think we have a winner, but we’ll still check out the menu and what else is on the app. But I can’t say no to a Subway.

So, I think we’ve come up across our first problem. We are using an eSIM at the moment, which means we don’t have a Chinese number. You need a Chinese number to be able to register on the app to place your order.

Maybe we could ask someone for their number? Is that a ridiculous suggestion? So, this has proven slightly more difficult than we thought.

We never considered the fact that we’d need a mainland Chinese phone number to register. I downloaded the app and thought we were good to go, but here we are. We’ve come across this problem before, and usually, we’ve found a workaround like using Alipay.

But I don’t know if we can do that this time. I think our best approach now is maybe to approach someone in the park and see if they speak a bit of English. Maybe we can ask them if we can use their number to register for the app and get a food drone delivery.

Aisling has bit the bullet! She’s gone over to ask two ladies if they’ll help us get verified. Oh, she’s coming back already.

. . and that doesn’t look promising.

She’s got her head hanging pretty low. Well, that was a complete fail. They didn’t want to look at or help us at all.

It was obvious I was coming to talk to them. They looked at me like, “What are you coming over here for? ” I tried speaking, and realized they spoke no English.

So, I used the translator, showed them the app, and. . .

no luck. They were like, “No,” and just waved me away. So, I took the hit and left.

Next plan: wait for others to come by or try finding a way to get a code online. Bear with me! Things really weren’t going to plan, so we called it a day.

We decided to go back, figure out how to register with a Chinese number, and return tomorrow. We still couldn’t connect to the app, but we’re back in the park again, hoping today’s the day! A lovely guy at the hotel reception let us use his phone number.

Absolute shout-out to that guy! We appreciate you so much! So, fingers crossed, today’s the day.

We’re back for round two, and I’ll run you through the steps, unlike the first attempt. Step one: come to the drone location, scan the QR code, and go through WeChat. It makes it a lot easier, and if you’re using someone else’s Chinese number, you can still use your WeChat and add their number.

Next, select what you want off the menu. There are so many choices! Add your items, and then just wait.

We know how the delivery works: a big drone carries a polystyrene box, and your food is inside. Alright, we think it’s sorted. We’ve translated and screenshotted about a million times, but I think our order is correct.

All I have to do now is hit confirm. Should I do it? Cool, that’s it.

Confirm. Please work! Another screenshot… No, no!

There’s been a lot of info related to making sure it’s eco-friendly. I think it’s to avoid overloading. The drone can only carry so much weight, which makes sense!

So, we put in for two six-inch Subs. The app is specific about orders. You can’t just order anything; you’re limited to set packages like KFC, Subway, 7-Eleven, and maybe three other places.

They have their own menus set up just for this service. So, hopefully, this works. Are we good?

Yes, it’s just confirming we’re at Central Park C2 area, drone drop-off. Do you need cutlery? No, let’s go!

Alright, it’s all confirmed. Order submitted! I’m waiting for fireworks to go off; this has been a long time coming.

We first tried for this Subway three days ago. So I’m really hoping it goes to plan now. Our order will take 20 to 30 minutes.

We have no idea when the drone will take off, so we’re just sitting here like two big kids waiting. The roof just opened… I can hear it… but I can’t see it! Oh, holy freaking… holy smokes.

No bloody way! Oh my god do you see it there? Wow it's massive!

Oh my come on bye MrDrne. Bye buddy thanks for our Subway. You can't even see it, it just disappeared into the sky.

What! That's mad! We're living in the future.

It didn't even come from here. Okay, we were totally wrong about how this works. The drone didn’t even come from here!

Literally, the door opened up at the top, and we were just sitting, waiting. It slid open like I thought it would, and then we expected the drone to take off from the machine. But suddenly, we could hear the drone, and we’re like, “What’s going on?

” Next of all, from the distance, the drone just floated in with the big box on it. It dropped it off from the top and then flew away again. So where the drone actually came from, I have no idea.

Unless there's some sort of central base where they all take off from. This was not how we expected it to go down. But fingers crossed, someone should be here.

Okay, hold on— that was a bit of a panic. So now, onto the app— you need the phone number to get it. Come on, we’ve got this!

We’ve got this! Please give us Subway, please give us Subway! The anticipation is real, isn’t it?

It’s doing its thing. Look at that box! The door's opening—wow!

I feel like it’s Christmas! Look at this massive box for a little Subway! Wow, incredible!

Let’s unbox it and go for a picnic. This is amazing! I’ve never been so happy to see food delivered safely in my life.

It’s ridiculous. The moment of truth has come! It comes in this lovely green box, as we showed you earlier.

And there’s a big, recyclable bin beside it, specifically for these boxes. Once you're finished with it, you fold the box down nice and flat, then you put it in the waste bin. I suppose they rebuild it and reuse it again.

But look, we’ve got our drop! Let’s see what we’ve got! [Music] Got a big empty box—look at this!

Oh my goodness, that big box for those two little Subways! Oh wow, wow, wow, wow! We’ve also brought our picnic blanket, as you can see.

We’ve come prepared for our  picnic in the park today. Unfortunately, we weren’t able  to order drinks from Subway, because it was going to be over our weight limit. So we’ll have to put in  another order now for drinks.

I think we’re looking at bubble teas. The moment has come. I’m hoping this is going to be  the best Subway I’ve ever had.

Because it’s taken us three  days to get this Subway! It’s definitely going to  be the most memorable one. This is the one that’s  going to stick out the most.

I can remember maybe eight or nine years ago, there was a Subway drive-thru  that opened up in Belfast, which is the closest city  to us back home in Ireland. That was a big deal! There were no Subway drive-thrus anywhere.

We drove an hour down the road  just to go through the drive-thru and get a Subway. It was ridiculous to even  go through the drive-thru. I feel like this is a step up.

Nothing out of the ordinary, but we’ve gone for one of their deal options, which was a meal for two. Two six-inch chicken teriyaki  and classic grilled chicken. That’s the one I have.

So, when we say we share, we share food. We split food all the time. We’ve been together for like 10 years.

We’re getting married very soon, as  we mentioned in a few videos ago. We’ll probably go half and half. What’s even funnier is that  the first day we came here, we spent about three hours in the  park trying to place this order.

Today, we’ve been here for  maybe about an hour and a half, and we’ve never seen anyone take  an interest in the drone machine. Everybody walked past it, nobody  cared, nobody looked at it. But since our drone has just landed, there’ve been three people stop at the machine, fully analyzing the whole thing.

There was one woman who stood  and watched the entire thing, recording the whole thing. She was like, “Is that your lunch? ” We were like, “Yeah,” in pure amazement.

And there’s currently a guy standing over there, who’s been there for about 15 to 20 minutes now, trying to place an order for himself too. I really hope he gets it. I do, I do!

I think he’ll get it easier than we will. He looks like he’s of Chinese nationality, so I’m going to assume he’s got a phone number and will probably have fewer  issues with the translation. It’ll probably take him a lot quicker.

What a day, what a day! I do believe it’s a novelty,  but a novelty is well worth it. Cheers!

Cheers! [Music] God, I can't believe you wouldn't let  me get any food these past three days until we got this. I’ve been starving for three days.

She hasn’t let me eat until we got this! She’s literally starved me for three days. Jokes!

No way! Like, we love food way too much to do that. Owen quite literally walks down the street  in China going, "Mmm, oh, did you see that?

" He’s a walking sound effects  machine and food machine. We decided not to get a bubble tea  because the options weren’t too great. So, what we actually ordered is like  a mango ice cream-looking smoothie.

We’re hoping it’s going to be here  in the next 15 or 20 minutes as well. And I’ll tell you something, I’m  really looking forward to that one! What a cool thing to do.

There’s literally another couple—remember  the guy we mentioned who was checking it out? They’ve also gotten a delivery and  they are absolutely buzzing about it! You’d be like, “Where can you get a  drone delivery in the middle of a park?

” I don’t think he can get it. Oh, you might need help! I’ll go help.

Is it not working? No? Yeah, not my order.

Oh, not your order? Yeah, maybe… I think. Oh, okay, I’ll try.

Who would have thought? Two drone deliveries and we  don’t know whose is whose! But that’s the good thing.

Nobody can get your order  unless they know your number and they know the last four digits of it. The roof is opening up, which means the drone is on its way! Can you see it up there anywhere?

Because I can’t. Oh! Oh, over here!

Look at it! Wow! And there it comes, the box is dropped off.

The goods have been delivered  and the drone is away. See you later, Mr Drne! Dr Well, that is so cool.

That is so cool! I had to like stick her drone up and go and  actually see what it looked like from above and how that was operating. That is wicked.

I love so many things about China— that might be up there in my top five  coolest things I’ve seen and done in China! That’s so cool. Yes, yours will come soon !

[Music] Would you like a drink? I would love a mango smoothie! Come on, the goodies!

Oh no, it’s sideways! Nooo! But look, this time they’ve put  a wee cup holder thing in it, and we’ve got a lovely wee bag.

Nice and cold! Oh boy, dear, would you look at that? That looks incredible.

That looks unbelievable! Oh, wow, refreshing! That, my friends, is beautiful.

This has been a fantastic— I can’t believe it’s been a  fantastic situation today! It just started off not so good, but this whole drone delivery  has turned it around. What an awesome experience!

We’ve spent a total of about £9  Sterling, which is around 90 Yuan, for our two Subways and our juice, and to be honest with you, that’s the  best money I’ve spent in a long time. So, it’s now time to take apart  the boxes and flat-pack them, so that they can go into—come  here—this little post box over here. So this is where you literally  just fold everything, somehow put it back in here,  and then they can reuse it.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Remember! Leave new TR slads this.

. . If you're struggling, we’ve got all of the  instructions up here on the box.

It’s actually like directed in  Chinese, but it does have ours, too. We pull it up, it all goes in, we fold it—done! Beautiful!

What an absolute treat that was! As somebody who is a drone  fanatic and an absolute foodie, I loved everything about that! Apart from the fact it took  us 3 days to actually get it— but that’s a whole other  situation.

That was our fault. And if you're coming and you’re looking  to get a food delivery by drone, make sure you have a Chinese  Mainland phone number, or bring a mate with you who has one. It’s going to make your life so, so much easier.

Totally worth it, however—loved  it, loved it, loved it! It was also free delivery,  it was super, super quick, and this is a service that’s slowly being  rolled out throughout different parts of China. I know they’re testing it out  in Shanghai at the minute, but Shenzen here was one of the  first places they actually did it, and in the Central Park  specifically where we’re at, that was one of the first machines they  put in for the drone delivery service.

So that’s another cool feature! We really hope you enjoyed this video as  much as we enjoyed doing the whole thing! It was such an experience!

Hit the like button down there if you did, subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already, and hopefully you’ll join us again  next Sunday for another video!