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Deutsche Post DHL Follows Amazon and Google in Testing Delivery Drones
DHL said it would use unmanned aircraft to transport medication to residents of a small German island, Juist, which is located in the North Sea. Nikolai Wolff Fotoetage/Associated Press
BERLIN—
Deutsche Post
DPW.XE +0.45%
DHL AG said it would use a drone to deliver medication to a German
island in the North Sea, marking the first routine drone delivery to
customers and another step in the rapid advancement of the technology.
DHL
said Wednesday that as part of a month-long feasibility project, it
will start using unmanned aircraft this week to carry medicine from the
harbor town of Norddeich, Germany, to the small island of Juist. Each
day—depending on weather—the drone will fly autonomously on a
preprogrammed seven-and-a-half-mile route, the first routine missions in
Europe in which a drone will operate beyond the pilot's eyesight, DHL
said.
DHL's plans follow those of
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN +1.42%
and
Google Inc.,
GOOGL +1.22%
which have each tested their own delivery drones.
Those U.S. Internet companies have said the routine deployment of the
devices is years away—in part because of regulatory challenges—but DHL
is hoping to demonstrate that the technology is ready for some
real-world applications.
Drone makers
and observers have touted the potential for drone deliveries in remote
areas where existing infrastructure makes shipping difficult.
Governments have also been more willing to authorize drone flights over
less populated areas, so the technology is expected to arrive first in
islands like Juist, where there are no cars, and the remote outback in
Queensland, Australia, where Google tested its delivery drones.
Several
government agencies worked together to establish a restricted flight
area specifically for the North Sea drone flights, DHL said. U.S.
aviation authorities have moved more slowly than other countries in
approving commercial-drone flights, even for testing, prompting Amazon
to conduct some of its tests in Canada, and Google in Australia.
DHL
launched its drone-research project last year in Bonn, Germany,
delivering medication across the Rhine River to a lawn behind the
company's headquarters. In that weeklong project, a pilot on the ground
controlled the bright-yellow quadcopter—a small helicopter with four
rotors—on its one-and-a-half-mile round trip.
DHL
said its partners, Microdrones GmbH and a German university, revamped
the drone for the new project to withstand the wind and weather
conditions of the North Sea.
The drone
will land on a specified field in Juist, where DHL couriers will
retrieve the parcels and deliver them to residents and vacationers on
the island. DHL said pilots on the ground in Norddeich will stay in
contact with air-traffic controllers and monitor the drone in case they
need to intervene.
—Sarah Sloat contributed to this article.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
