The French National Post Office, la Poste, and Parrot have announced the launch of a pilot scheme to deliver daily newspapers by quad rotor in the Auvergne region.
The postal service has been committed to modernising its services for several years now and has decided to go one step further by partnering with the French Parrot company.
Under the new agreement, a daily newspaper delivery service using Parrot’s “AR Drone” will be launched in May. Initial testing will take place in Auvergerne with deliveries to volunteers. Several well-known internet personalities, such as blogger Korben and e-commerce expert Olivier Bernasson, founder of clicks & mortar site www.pecheur.com have signed up to rediscover the pleasure of the printed word.
The team at Parrot has developed a special adaption of its quad rotor for the purpose and have baptised it ‘Air Mail Drone’ in homage to the historic Air Mail service.
Some twenty quad copters will be stationed in post office or distribution centres close to the selected customers in order to be able to deliver he daily newspapers before 7 am. Twenty postmen are currently being trained to fly them. Due to its range of over 50 meters, the AR Air Mail Drone will easily be able to reach the furthest away, cross a fence, fly above dangerous dogs and reach upper floor levels.
After analysing the results of this test, La Poste and Parrot will undertake a feasibility study to consider making the service more generally available.
Source: La Poste