Drones are hot again
Emailed on May 1st 2020 in The Friday Forward
Commercial drones haven’t gone mainstream due to technical challenges, scalability, and regulatory barriers. But they’re in high demand during the pandemic.
On Monday, UPS and CVS announced they’ll use drones to deliver prescription medication to residents of The Villages, a Florida retirement community. The FAA-approved service will start with baby steps in May using Matternet M2 drones. UPS will fly medicine from a CVS pharmacy to a pick-up location near The Villages less than a half-mile away. A ground vehicle will then deliver the medicine to doorsteps.
With 135,000 residents, the Florida mega-neighborhood is one of the largest retirement communities in the U.S. The service could expand to include two additional CVS pharmacies in the area and direct drone-to-doorstep delivery.
Elsewhere, Alphabet’s drone unit Wing is busier than ever in Virginia. Last week, Flytrex launched a drone delivery service for food, medicine, and other goods in Grand Forks, ND. And a Matternet/UPS revenue-generating delivery service for medication in Raleigh, NC, has already completed 3,700+ flights to date, according to UPS.
