First US Drone Package Delivery to Take Place Next Month
The first legal delivery of a package by a drone is expected to take place next month by a research group led by Virginia Tech, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported.
The Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, a research group led by the university, has been designated a Federal Aviation Administration drone test site operator and previously has been approved for flights, according to the paper.
The drone will deliver a package of medicine to a patient in the mountains of Southwest Virginia in a trip that normally would take more than an hour but is expected to take the drone about 15 minutes.
On July 17, the medicine will be delivered by two different drones, one built by NASA for longer distances then transferred to another that can lower the package to the ground, the paper reported.
The event will be recorded by another drone created by an aerial photography startup.
Amazon.com Inc. has been working on a drone delivery service called Prime Air and has said it wants to deliver packages weighing less than 5 pounds with unmanned aircraft capable of reaching speeds of more than 50 mph.
Amazon says 86% of its deliveries are light enough to be made by its proposed drones, allowing for faster service to customers.
Alibaba Group Holding already has made trial drone deliveries in China. The largest Internet company in Asia partnered with Shanghai YTO Express Logistics Co. to deliver ginger tea packets to 450 Chinese customers who volunteered for the one-time drone tests.
