The biggest postal service in Europe – Deutsche Post AG will start delivering medicine and other urgent goods to a German island located in the North Sea using unmanned helicopters. The service marks the first routine drone delivery to customers and comes at a time when global companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. have already started testing delivery drones but stated that their routine deployment is years away.
According to the statement of Deutsche Post, the company received the approval of state and federal transport ministries, as well as air traffic control authorities to carry out the drone deliveries in a restricted flight area. The delivery drones, called parcelcopters, can fly at up to 65 km (40 miles) per hour and will start operating on September 26th.
Juergen Gerdes, a board member of Deutsche Post, who is responsible for mail, parcel and electronic commerce activities, shared in a statement cited by Bloomberg: “With the parcelcopter, an unmanned aircraft operating outside the controller’s field of vision will perform deliveries for the first time in a real-world mission.”
The logistics firm DHL, which is owned by Deutsche Post, managed to outrun Amazon and Google in conducting the first unmanned flights as US authorities declined to approve commercial drone flights until clear rules are forged. This prompted the retailer to conduct tests in Canada, while Google has been testing and examining the use of the technology for two years in Australia.
And while Google and Amazon shared that routine usage of the drones is years away, partly because of regulatory challenges, Deutsche Posts DHL hopes to prove that the technology is ready to be employed not only on limited areas, but also worldwide. If the trial of the unmanned parcelcopters turns out to be successful, the company plans to use such aircraft for delivery purposes to other remote areas or in case of emergencies.
Deutsche Post AG rose by 0.37% to trade at €25.69 per share at 9:29 GMT in Frankfurt, marking a one year change of +6.97%. The company is valued at €30.96 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 25 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Deutsche Post AG have a median target of €28.00, with a high estimate of €32.00 and a low estimate of €21.70. The median estimate represents a 9.40% increase from the previous close of €25.60.
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