Category: Logistics • freight • delivery

In a groundbreaking flight, the University of Maryland UAS Test Site flew a donor kidney by c-drone autonomously 2.7mi (4.4km) from Baltimore's St. Agnes Hospital to the University of Maryland Medical Center, where the organ was successfully transplanted into a patient four hours later.

Zipline International, a c-drone startup based in California with extensive medical logistics experience in Africa, inaugurated on April 24 its regular service in Ghana at a ceremony in Omenako with the country's vice-president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Okyenhene (traditional king) of eastern Ghana, and representatives from infrastructure-building donors.

Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has obtained Air Carrier Certification for commercial c-drone deliveries from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as part of the Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP), the company said in a blog post.

United Parcel Service (UPS), the logistics giant, has partnered with Switzerland's Matternet and WakeMed Health & Hospitals for regular hourly delivery of medical samples across the hospital system's campus near Raleigh in the US state of North Carolina, with oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).

The Skyways project, a collaboration between Airbus and Wilhelmsen Ships Services announced last June to test autonomous c-drone deliveries over water and in urban environments, has made its first shore-to-ship parcel delivery in Singapore harbor.