Part 135 Standard Certification Allows UPS And Matternet To Rapidly Scale Drone Delivery Hospital Operations In The U.S.

The drone delivery system developed by Matternet for medical applications is enabling the first FAA-approved drone airline. The full Part 135 Standard certification has been granted to UPS, allowing the company to operate as a drone airline using Matternet's drone technology to expand on-demand drone delivery operations to hospitals around the country.

"We founded Matternet with the belief that we must create a new layer of transportation, using networks of drones for delivering urgent items on-demand at a fraction of the time, cost and ecological footprint of any other transportation method," said Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos. "Our technology has the power to transform healthcare and the world of logistics at large. Today's announcement is bringing us one step closer to this reality."

The Matternet M2 drone logistics system, comprised of the Matternet M2 drone and the Matternet Cloud Platform, is the first system to be authorized by the FAA for use under Part 135 Standard certification. The drone system was evaluated and validated by the FAA as meeting the safety requirements for use with an air carrier certificate. The Matternet M2 system is capable of transporting packages of up to 5 lbs across distances of up to 12.5 miles in operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and over people.

Through the use of drone delivery networks, Matternet's technology allows hospital systems to transport medical items at an unprecedented level of speed and predictability, resulting in improved patient care and strong operational savings. Earlier this year, Matternet and UPS launched a healthcare delivery service at WakeMed and have completed more than 1,000 deliveries.

(Image provided with Matternet news release)

FMI: mttr.net