German postal carrier Deutsche Post DHL is testing a drone
delivery service that could deliver medical and food supplies to areas with
minimal road access.
On Monday, the company ran a test delivery of its so-called
“parcelcopter.” In a flight that lasted two minutes, remote-controlled drone
carried a batch of medicine from a pharmacy in the city of Bonn to the
company’s headquarters, just across the Rhine River.
In the DHL test, with two employees controlling it from the ground, the
drone flew a little more than half a mile, at a height of about 165 feet.
It is
capable of carrying up to 2.6 pounds, and can autonomously navigate using GPS
coordinates. The drone cost about $54,900, according to Reuters.
“We are at the beginning of the research project,” DHL
manager Ole Nordhoff told Germany’s English news service The
Local. “It is an exciting bit of technology.”
A flock of pigeons flies with a prototype "parcelcopter" of German postal and logistics group Deutsche Post DHL in Bonn December 9, 2013.
REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
DHL hinted at its interest in drone delivery in the
September issue of its customer magazine, Delivered. The issue included an
article about Matternet, a Silicon Valley start-up that, according to Delivered,
“hopes to use drones to solve logistics problems by bypassing roadways
altogether.”
On Dec. 4, the company again wrote about Matternet,
this time in a feature article on the its website Supply Chain Matters, explaining
that, “As
the need for speed, to save costs and to reach remote locations increases, we
could soon be turning to drones to solve our most complex logistics problems.”
There is no word on a partnership between Matternet
and DHL, and Matternet did not respond to a CBS News request for comment. DHL spokesman Thomas Kutsch told The Local that this week’s test flights, which were
approved by local aviation authorities, are strictly for research purposes and
that the company is interested in helping deliver supplies to hard-to-reach
areas.
Given DHL’s involvement in disaster relief efforts – the
company sent
a response team to the Philippines after typhoon Haiyan to oversee the logistics and distribution of incoming
relief supplies – disaster relief may be the first place we see the company
using the technology.
United Parcel Service (UPS) is also researching delivery by drone. In the United States, Amazon, UPS and their competitors face Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) regulations which currently restrict commercial drone flights.
Danielle Elliot is a freelance science editor and reporter for CBS News. She holds an M.A. in science and health journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in broadcast journalism from the University of Maryland. Follow her on Twitter - @daniellelliot.
