Germany’s DHL Test Delivers Medicine by Drone

As reported by GigaOM: Germany’s postal service has completed its first drone-based package delivery, successfully using a “Paketkopter” to carry a pack of medicine from a Bonn pharmacy to the Deutsche Post (DHL) headquarters a kilometer away.

When Amazon announced its own drone delivery plans just over a week ago, DHL was quick to say that it too was already developing a similar scheme. Monday’s maiden flight proves this to be true. However, Germany’s airspace rules remain unclear on drones, and this flight required a special permit.

According to Deutsche Welle, DHL currently has no plans to actually launch drone-based deliveries. This was just a trial to check the technological feasibility of the idea.

In that case, medicine was a great choice. It’s light, which is handy as drones aren't very strong. It’s also something that could plausibly merit very urgent delivery — delivering stuff via drone only makes economic sense when time is of the essence, due to fuel costs and the fact that drones will probably only be able to carry one package at a time.