Engadget reports that CVS and United Parcel Service (UPS) have "completed their first paid home deliveries of prescriptions, hauling medicine to two homes (one of which was a retirement community) in Cary, North Carolina … The drones flew autonomously and lowered the packages to the ground with a cable and winch, although there was a human operator ready to take control."
The story goes on: "It's not exactly a booming business with just two deliveries. However, it's still a significant milestone. The deliveries point to a future where you don't have to travel to the pharmacy, or else wait for a courier truck to make its usual rounds -- you could get the medicine you need within minutes of your supply running out. It also bodes well for mainstream adoption of drone delivery, even if it's likely to be a long while before you can assume your prescription pills will descend from the skies."
The story goes on: "It's not exactly a booming business with just two deliveries. However, it's still a significant milestone. The deliveries point to a future where you don't have to travel to the pharmacy, or else wait for a courier truck to make its usual rounds -- you could get the medicine you need within minutes of your supply running out. It also bodes well for mainstream adoption of drone delivery, even if it's likely to be a long while before you can assume your prescription pills will descend from the skies."
- KC's View:
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No question that this is a limited test, but it does tell us something about what the future may look like.
I am disappointed by the cable-and-winch component, though. I'm totally into the idea that was floated by Amazon, which would attached little parachutes to packages and would allow them to be floated gently to earth, landing on little targets put outside by customers.
