Abu Dhabi-UAE: 22 November 2025 – noon Minutes, noon’s ultra-fast delivery service, successfully carried out multiple fully autonomous drone deliveries during DriftX—an international exhibition for smart and autonomous technologies held as part of Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week. The demonstration, which required no human control, showcased the future of last-mile logistics and marked a major step toward making autonomous delivery a standard in the UAE.
Visitors to the noon stand at DriftX were able to order products directly from a touchscreen and receive their deliveries by autonomous drone in under 15 minutes. Over the two-day event, noon completed more than 50 autonomous deliveries, from food to toys and personal care products, demonstrating its commitment to innovation and ongoing investment in next-generation technology that makes deliveries faster, smarter, and more sustainable.
The activation was powered by the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), which provided the autonomy system; SteerAI, which supplied the fleet management software coordinating each flight; and LODD, which provided and monitored the drone hardware.
This follows successful testing in late October, when a drone delivered a two-kilogram parcel from a noon Minutes mini-fulfillment center to another mini fulfillment centre in Bani Yas in under four minutes.
The project was conducted under the oversight of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), which is collaborating with the Advanced Technology Research Council to define airspace regulations and develop advanced airspace management systems for the UAE.
Ali Kafil-Hussain, noon’s Chief Business Officer, said, “At noon Minutes, we’re reimagining how products can be delivered faster and more sustainably. TII, SteerAI, and LODD are helping bring this promise to life. We look forward to setting a new standard for last-mile delivery, whether customers live in a city center or a remote area.”
“TII’s AI-driven autonomy stack integrates advanced perception, decision-making, communication, localization, and navigation to enable unmanned vehicles to operate quickly, precisely, and safely—changing the way we define mobility,” said Dr. Najwa Aaraj, the CEO of the Technology Innovation Institute.
“Autonomous technology requires careful oversight and management to deliver impact,” said Michael Sonderby, the Acting CEO of SteerAI. “CoreConnect, our fleet management system, enables real-time mission planning, deployment, and tracking of any vehicle or drone, ensuring fast, safe delivery. This milestone shows how integrated autonomous systems can drive real, scalable results.”
“We are reimagining last-mile delivery to be faster and more sustainable for every customer,” said Rashid Al Manai, LODD’s CEO. “This partnership sets a new standard for sustainable, reliable delivery in the UAE. AI-powered coordination and autonomous systems will redefine how we move goods across cities.”
Following this successful activation, noon and its partners are now working to move autonomous last-mile delivery from demonstration to industry standard. The next step is to enable customers to choose drone delivery directly within the noon app, complete with real-time tracking and full visibility as their parcels travel from noon’s warehouses to their doorsteps within the delivery standard of 15 minutes or less.
This technology will also expand delivery access to areas that are difficult to reach through traditional methods—such as beaches, farms, and new residential zones—helping noon deliver faster and more reliably to communities across the UAE.
SteerAI is designed to turn standard industrial and defense vehicles into autonomous machines that can handle complex opearations.