Business & Tech

NJ Makes History With Autonomous Drone Pizza Delivery: See Video

xPizzaDay's showcase marked the first drone pizza delivery in the northeast, organizers said.

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A Morris County pizza joint has made history for being the first in the northeast to deliver a pizza with the use of an airborne autonomous drone.

On Monday, several pies from Montville’s Columbia Inn traveled up to 400 feet in the area to deliver pizzas up to three miles away.

The event, dubbed xPizzaDay, was put together by NJ Pizza Alliance, an organization dedicated to supporting local pizzerias and revolutionizing the Garden State’s pizza industry.

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The drone, which delivered three pizzas across Montville during the event, was provided by Dexa, a drone-oriented delivery company based in Ohio. The company has been experimenting with using drones in delivery for years.

Find out what's happening in Montvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Also featured at the event was a bipedal robot called PizzaBot, which greeted guests, as well as tons of local vendors and technology companies. Other machines, including autonomous ones that make pizza and handle ingredients, were showcased at the event.

“From food and drink distributors to pizza kitchens to delivery, this is a hands-on look at how technology is changing the entire pizza world,” a xPizzaDay statement read, adding that the event helps “pizzerias grow into the future, not stay stuck in the past.”

The event comes about a month after New Jersey's first drone food delivery launched in Somerset County. That program, in collaboration with Dexa, GrubHub, and Wonder, marked the first time drone technology was used for commercial food delivery in the Garden State.

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