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First Residential Drone Prescription Delivery

11/6/2019

UPS on Tuesday (Nov. 5) announced that its drone delivery subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward (UPSFF), has completed the first residential drone deliveries to consumers of CVS prescription medications.

The Friday (Nov. 1) drone deliveries were to a CVS customer’s home and to a different customer in a nearby retirement community. Both flights launched from a CVS store in Cary, N.C. and used the M2 drone system by UPS partner and drone systems developer Matternet.

The self-flying drones were supervised by a remote pilot with the ability to intervene if necessary. To make the deliveries, the drone hovered about 20 feet above the properties and then gradually grounded the packages using a cable.

Kevin Hourican, president of CVS Pharmacy, said the successful drone delivery “demonstrates what’s possible for our customers who can’t easily make it into our stores,” and noted that CVS is looking into a variety of delivery options for urban, suburban and rural markets.