The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted its first-ever approval for commercial drone flights, enabling blood samples to be ferried across a North Carolina hospital campus. The revenue flights project, a partnership between UPS and Matternet, will shuttle between a WakeMed medical park and a main hospital building at least six times daily. The initial half-kilometre route could also be expanded to take in longer journeys, according to Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos. At other program test sites, drone operators recently delivered ice pops to doorsteps in a Virginia neighborhood, and officials in Reno, Nevada, are in early testing of a program to deliver defibrillators to people having health emergencies. “Right now, we are testing the feasibility of delivering blood from one location to another using drones that can fly over 100 kilometres per hour,” said Dr David Williams, chief executive officer of Matternet.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted its first-ever approval for commercial drone flights, enabling blood samples to be ferried across a North Carolina hospital campus. The revenue flights project, a partnership between UPS and Matternet, will shuttle between a WakeMed medical park and a main hospital building at least six times daily. The initial half-kilometre route could also be expanded to take in longer journeys, according to Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos. “Right now, we are testing the feasibility of delivering blood from one location to another using drones that can fly over 100 kilometres per hour,” said Dr David Williams, chief executive officer of Matternet.