Uber Wants Your Next Big Mac to Be Delivered by Drone

On an overcast Monday in May, I joined a group in a parking lot behind a San Diego McDonald’s to witness the future of food delivery. In the center of a large area cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape sat a four-foot-long, six-armed AR200 drone with a custom-designed payload box.

I’d come to watch Uber Elevate, the aerial arm of the $72 billion ride-­sharing service, test food delivery by drone. The original plan was to observe the dramatic transport of a Big Mac, chicken McNuggets, and two orders of fries a half-mile away, beyond the line of sight, to the entrance of the Viejas Arena at San Diego State University. But with the wind clocking in at 26 knots—classified as a “strong breeze” on the Beaufort scale and above the limits set by the manufacturer—that trip was canceled. Instead the ­burger-bearing drone lurched, rose 25 feet, hovered for about 60 seconds, and slowly descended.