The Swiss postal service recently announced that it has started testing the delivery of parcels through unmanned drones. While the program isn’t being implemented nationwide just yet, it shows great signs of progress. The program is expected to be launched full scale in the next five years.
The current testing phase is expected to last until July and Swiss postal service authorities are using white drones with four propellers to run tests. These UAVs have the ability to carry a load of more than 1 kilogram and can travel up to 10 kilometers in just one go.
The drone takes flight autonomously through secure and predetermined flight paths which are created by Matternet, a drone and cloud software company.
The Swiss Post is collaborating with Swiss WorldCargo to test these drones before they are used across the nation. According to authorities, there are several factors that need to be tested and analyzed in order to optimally use these drones in the future for mail delivery.
These drones will be highly useful in remote locations within Switzerland, especially across the Alpine country. This area consists of several isolated and remote villages where using drones to deliver parcels would be much easier than sending a postman. While this program will be fully put into effect in 5 years, Swiss Post claims that for now, the drones will be used in case of emergency, where a specific area has been cut off from the rest of the world after a storm.
Similarly in the US, Amazon is pushing the FAA to ease regulations on the usage of drones. The ecommerce giant stands to make a lot of profit if drones are allowed to be used for delivery. Back in 2013, it had announced the launch of its new delivery program that would deliver goods within 30 minutes after being ordered. This plan however, has been put on the backburner for now thanks to FAA regulations.
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