Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a pizza

A Domino's delivery drone (supplied)
A Domino's delivery drone (supplied)

Pizzas - they're UFO-shaped, and soon could be flying right to your door.

In Auckland on Thursday Domino's tested its new drone delivery service for the first time.

"With the increased number of deliveries we make each year, we were faced with the challenge of ensuring our delivery times continue to decrease and that we strive to offer our customers new and progressive ways of ordering from us," said Domino's CEO and managing director Don Meij.

By skipping the city's notoriously awful traffic, Mr Meij says the company will be able to send pizzas quicker and further than ever before.

"What drones allow us to do is to extend that delivery area by removing barriers such as traffic and access, as well as offering a much faster, safer delivery option, which means we can deliver further afield than we currently do to our rural customers, while reaching our urban customers in a much more efficient time."

Transport Minister Simon Bridges and representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority oversaw the test.

Mr Bridges says new drone laws that came into force last year make New Zealand the ideal place to experiment with airborne pizza delivery.

"The announcement of this trial confirms that New Zealand's framework for UAVs is world-class," he said.

UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, is another term for drones.

"The trial is also a valuable opportunity for the Civil Aviation Authority, who are making sure that appropriate safety precautions are taken."

Domino's is also working on a land-based robot delivery service, which could replace its bike fleet.

"We've always said that it doesn't make sense to have a two-tonne machine delivering a two-kilogram order," says Mr Meij.

Proper trials will begin once daylight saving kicks in later this year.

It's not clear yet how the unmanned flights will fit around existing Auckland Council and Auckland Transport rules, which restrict flights over roads, parks, at night and out of users' line of sight.

Newshub.