Matternet Partners With UPS As It Launches First Regular Drone Delivery Service In U.S.
A Matternet quadcopter carrying lab specimens will fly a third of a mile Wednesday across the campus of WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., kicking off service on the first regular commercial drone delivery route in the United States
Matternet has also picked up a powerful partner for its vision to enable medical deliveries by drone nationwide: UPS. The companies announced the deal Tuesday along with a demonstration flight for the press.
In the WakeMed project, which is part of a federal pilot program to integrate drone services into populated areas, Matternet drones will carry lab specimens from WakeMed clinics to its central laboratory for analysis. It will take the drones roughly three minutes to fly the inaugural route; currently it can take up to half an hour to get samples to the lab from the same location by a courier who may make multiple stops, the companies say. Drone delivery should enable quicker turnaround on urgently needed tests and ultimately could allow healthcare systems to save money by consolidating their labs.
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“Now the lab doesn’t have to be on-site—it can be 9 miles away and support multiple hospitals,” says Chris Cassidy, who heads healthcare strategy for UPS.
Initially the drones will be kept within sight at all times by a monitor capable of taking control; UPS and Matternet are hoping to obtain a waiver from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to operate longer routes from other WakeMed clinics that would go beyond the monitor’s visual line of sight.
“For this to be commercially viable it needs to be autonomous, remotely supervised with no pilot in command on-site,” says Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos.
Matternet, based in Menlo Park, California, has been delivering lab samples in Switzerland since 2017 in collaboration with Swiss Post, completing more than 3,000 flights in the cities of Lugano, Berne and Zurich, according to the company.
UPS, which will handle the business development side of the partnership, is targeting healthcare as a key area for growth. It’s built up a specialized network of temperature-controlled warehouses and shipping methods to serve healthcare companies, and it reportedly is planning to try out a service to deliver vaccinations to adults at their homes. UPS hasn’t been involved in the lab specimen courier business before.
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There will be no integration with UPS’ delivery network at this point.
Matternet and UPS are working on launching similar services with hospital systems in other areas taking part in the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program, including San Diego. By the time the three-year IPP program is done in 2020, Raptopoulos expects regulations will be in place to permit the partners to roll out the service nationwide.
“We’re trying to figure out how we can scale and become a value proposition for the U.S. healthcare system,” says Raptopoulos.
In addition to lab specimens, Raptopoulos aims to deliver pharmaceuticals, envisioning the potential to partner with pharmacies to deliver drugs by drone to small pickup stations so customers wouldn’t have to go to the store.
“Anything medical, we want you to get as fast as possible,” he says.
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