ORLANDO – Andreas Raptopoulos, CEO of Matternet, a company that manufactures a small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), announced at the CNS conference this morning that his company will work with carrier Swiss WorldCargo and postal logistics firm Swiss Post on a project to test the Matternet ONE drone as an automated cargo delivery system.
Oliver Evans, chief cargo officer of Swiss WorldCargo, the air cargo division of Swiss International Air Lines, joined Raptopoulos on stage at the end of the presentation to say the two companies will begin proof-of-concept testing on a number of Matternet ONE drones this summer in Switzerland. Evans said his company has a surprising amount of shipments under two kilograms, making Swiss WorldCargo a good partner.
“This is not a dream – the technology is all here,” Evans said. “But why isn’t this happening?” He said the reasons why the industry has not yet embraced drone delivery are regulations, public acceptance and “us,” referring to the room of cargo industry executives. “We are simply not ready as an industry to deal with the regulators and confront public acceptance.”
Matternet ONE, the quad-copter drone that has been developed, has a centrally located payload, which is easy to load and unload, and the vehicle is light and strong enough to transport a one-kilogram payload as far as 20 kilometers on a single battery charge. The drone is capable of autonomous operation, following secure routes generated by Matternet’s cloud-based software. The drone is programmed to land only on pre-registered landing pads that Matternet will supply to custormers, which Raptopoulos says will prevent the UAV from getting lost and land somewhere else.
In his presentation before the announcement, Raptopoulos presented examples of how the Matternet ONE is being used now. The tiny, mountainous nation of Bhutan has a small number of physicians and a few easily navigable roads, so the drone was used to deliver payloads of medicine to remote villages. And in Papa New Guinea, where Doctors Without Borders is dealing with a tuberculosis outbreak, the Matternet ONE traveled for 55 minutes from a hospital to a remote clinic, stopping once for a battery swap. The patient was diagnosed and treatment rendered in three hours.
Raptopoulos said access in developing countries is challenging, so drone use could save lives in such places. Other uses are rural areas, NGO’s and in the case of this new partnership, last mile delivery.
“Today we know who are customers are, but we have no idea how our cargo travels the last mile,” Evans said. Raptopoulos said 75 percent of the cost of shipping is the last mile. His drone is a logistics solution he said. “It’s on demand, works 24/7, has a low operation cost and a low energy footprint,” Raptopoulos said.
With what Evans called a “law and order” environment, Switzerland, he said, is the perfect environment in which to clarify the legal framework, consider local conditions and explore the technical and business capabilities of the drones.