UPS Flight Forward Completes First UAV Delivery Of Prescription Drugs In North Carolina Written 6 November 2019

Reuters reports that United Parcel Service Flight Forward UAVs “have flown prescription medications to the front lawn of a private home and to a retirement center, the UPS unit’s first revenue-generating deliveries for drugstore chain CVS Health Corp.” Flight Forward’s “maiden delivery flight on Friday in Cary, North Carolina, beat rivals in one phase of the race for the nascent market.” The packages, “roughly the size of small shoeboxes, were lowered from drones hovering at an altitude of about 20 feet.” UPS and CVS “said on Tuesday the deliveries were the first of their kind under [a] program approved by the” FAA. Regulators “are still hammering out rules for how the unmanned winged vehicles will operate in U.S. airspace and guidelines are expected in 2021.” CVS President Kevin Hourican said, “We see big potential in drone delivery in rural communities where life-saving medications are needed and consumers at times cannot conveniently access one of our stores.”
Full Story (Reuters)