INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Drone startup Wingcopter, working with partners Merck and the Frankfurt University of Applied Science, has completed a first flight of a
new drone delivery trial designed to show the benefits of using drones instead of trucks or other road-faring vehicles for moving small
cargo between two physically separate office facilities
This first flight covered around 25 km (roughly 15.5 miles), taking a sample of pigments from one Merck lab in Gernsheim to its headquarters
in Darmstadt in Germany.This trial is significant in more ways than one: The area it covered spanned a fairly dense metropolitan area,
flying over power lines, trains, roadways and more
The partners involved are hoping this means it can stand as a blueprint to other similar pilot projects and trials being run all over the
world.Next up, the project will continue to fly additional deliveries and then summarize their findings in a report to be delivered in March
Already, using drones instead of trucks seems to provide advantages in terms of time (saving between an hour and even a full day in some
cases) and emissions, and it can cut down on the amount of empty return trips made by large, heavy gas-guzzling vehicles, as well.Wingcopter
delivery across a number of use cases, including for use in getting life-saving medical supplies to remote areas
