World’s First Drone Test For Mail Delivery

World’s First Drone Test For Mail Delivery

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The use of commercial drones for delivering mail is one step closer to reality in Singapore, after the testing of Singpost’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

The test – the first for any postal service in the world – carried a package containing a letter and a t-shirt flew for two kilometres and took five minutes to complete. The UAV was fitted with enhanced safety features with a ‘prototype app’ that would allow the device to navigate itself using hi-tech security and verification features to ensure it reached its intended recipient.  It has the capacity to carry a payload of up to half a kilogramme, fly at a height of up to 45 metres and travel a distance of 2.3 kilometres. The objective was to test the drone’s effectiveness in delivering parcels and goods to its customers in a timely manner.  

This is the first time in the world a postal service has successfully used an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for point-to-point recipient-authenticated mail delivery. Similar trials delivering mail by drones have been done elsewhere, including Germany and Switzerland. Ms Jacqueline Poh, managing director of IDA labs, which worked to be adjusted to work in a challenging envirionment such as Singapore, said: “The successful conclusion of this trial shows how SingPost is thinking out of the box and its willingness to expand its traditional mail delivery model in innovative ways.

“Although it will be a while before it is viable for drone mail delivery to take off in Singapore, taking into consideration commercial and safety factors, this first step by SingPost and IDA demonstrates what Singapore is trying out with our Smart Nation vision – to have the various parts of our ecosystem collaborate, experiment with new ways of doing things, and in the process, literally aim for the sky with new technology.”

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