Switzerland's postal service is testing delivery drones, which could eventually be used to deliver urgent parcels directly to people's doors.
Swiss Post has teamed up with SwissWorld Cargo, the air freight division of Swiss International Air Lines, and Californian drone manufacturer Matternet, to trial a delivery-by-drone service.
The commercial drone, which has been tested throughout July, has been designed to be extremely light, while being able to transport loads of up to 1kg over distances of more than 10km -- all using a single battery charge.
It's hoped that these autonomous delivery drones could be used to transport emergency parcels, such as medications, or deliver high-priority items such as laboratory tests. However, the postal drones are unlikely to be sent into the skies within the next few years while the team continues to tweak their design.
Switzerland isn't the first country to trial commercial drones. DHL Parcel in Germany has been trialling its very own "parcelcopter" on the island of Juist in the North Sea -- marking the first time a drone has been used this way in Europe. Since the parcelcopter's maiden voyage in December 2013, it's been used to carry medical supplies on a 12km flight path to the island, providing an alternative to more unreliable forms of transport such as ferries.
There are currently no plans to use the parcelcopter for day-to-day postal deliveries, but if further trials go ahead, it may not be too long before these airborne postmen are put into widespread use.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
