Matternet, the California-based drone developer, is going to run drone operations for the Swiss Post from January 1, 2023.
Matternet designs, builds and operates its technology in partnership with healthcare and logistics organizations. Earlier in 2019, Matternet partnered with UPS to provide drone delivery services to US healthcare systems and they together enabled the first FAA-Approved Drone Airline in the US, UPS Flight Forward.
Swiss Post and Matternet have been partners for five-years, where Matternet was providing its urban drone delivery platform and operated commercial routes for Swiss Post customers. They had to suspend their drone delivery services of collecting laboratory samples when the covid-19 pandemic broke out but they resumed their services from August 2020.
Apart from that they had their services in delivering essential supplies to the difficult to reach villages, which were cut off by natural disasters. Now, Matternet plans to take over Swiss Post’s drone activities as well.
“We thank Swiss Post for the partnership and all that we accomplished together over the last five years,” said Andreas Raptopoulos, CEO of Matternet. “With the extensive experience we have gained from operating drone delivery networks over Swiss cities since 2017, we are now ready to take the next step toward our vision of city-wide, ultra-fast and environmentally-friendly drone delivery networks in Switzerland.”
Swiss Post has been at the forefront of drone development and deployment for logistics in Switzerland; it transports special healthcare consignments in cooperation with a range of partners in various regions of the country.
It was named as the world’s best postal service by the Universal Postal Union followed by Germany and Austria. Swiss Post has always striven to be at the cutting-edge of technology developments. In order to make drone deliveries more widespread as well as efficient and economic, it is eyeing a new collaborative approach.
“With its new strategy, the company is focusing on logistics solutions in its core business and on continuing to finance the public service for Switzerland using its own resources. This strategic decision is a logical step as part of its strategy,” states Swiss Post in a statement.
Swiss Post states that they have thoroughly reviewed the profitability of their ongoing projects, which includes the drone operation. The result drawn from the analysis of their five-year operation is that “the autonomous drones continue to attract interest but Swiss Post is not able to use drones widely enough or make a profit while using the current technology and keeping to the regulations that are in force.” For this reason, the company has decided to hand over its drone project to the drone systems developer Matternet.
“Innovation will remain essential for Swiss Post going forward − a dynamic Switzerland needs an equally dynamic postal service. Swiss Post’s goal is to drive innovation in areas where the needs of people and companies match its mission − always with the intention of providing a public service funded by its own resources,” the statement concludes.
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