Drone delivery is one sector where strong regulation is a plus, not a hindrance. This makes the EU a surprisingly fertile ground for a company like Manna and its backyard delivery service.
“Europe is miles ahead of the United States in this space,” said its CEO, Irish entrepreneur Bobby Healy.
Without friendly regulation, Dublin-based Manna wouldn’t be able to use its autonomous aircraft to deliver purchases from local stores directly into their customers’ gardens, as it has now been doing in Ireland for three and a half years. After further proving its worth during the pandemic, it can now easily export its approach to other EU countries thanks to the U-space legal framework.
While Healy is all praise for European regulators, he’d much rather talk about another underrated fact: That Manna is “the only drone delivery company that has reached profitable economics.” This is perhaps less of a priority for its American counterpart Wing, an Alphabet company since it graduated from Google X in 2018. But Healy wants Manna to already focus on what matters in the long term — including cost and scalability.
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