Swiss Post extends drone delivery pilot project

Swiss Post is working with Matternet to extend its pilot project which uses drones to deliver medical laboratory samples between hospitals.

In a statement issued today (5 June), Swiss Post said that, following on from its project in Lugano, transport drones will now fly in the capital city, Berne.

Swiss Post and Matternet are evaluating the use of drones between the Tiefenau hospital and University Hospital Insel.

The laboratory samples are currently transported by courier. For urgent cases, Insel Gruppe uses a taxi.

According to Swiss Post: “To ensure that the results are as informative as possible, the drone is being deployed on at least ten effective flight days over two weeks. The flights will then be jointly evaluated and Insel Gruppe will decide whether to use drones for day-to-day transportation of lab samples in the future. Following the evaluation of the route in Berne (Insel Gruppe), Swiss Post will look into a further route between the main laboratory, ZLZ Zentrallabor Zürich, and the ZLZ emergency laboratory at the Hirslanden Klinik Im Park.”