New test route will showcase the potential for more efficient patient care through the on-demand delivery of diagnostic samples and will serve as a template for expansion networks in Europe, the U.S., and beyond.

Today, Matternet, the developer of the world’s leading drone delivery system, announced it has begun test operations on a five-kilometer BVLOS (beyond-visual-line-of-sight) route over the city of Zurich, Switzerland. This route is the world’s longest drone delivery route over a major city and will be used to transport diagnostic samples between the Triemli and Waid Hospitals – both a part of Stadspital Zürich, a municipal central hospital owned by the city of Zurich.

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Matternet M2 over the city of Zurich (Photo: Business Wire)

“Launching this new service for Stadspital Zürich is an important moment for Matternet, but also for the future of both health care and logistics services,” said Andreas Raptopoulos, founder and CEO of Matternet. “Leveraging the longest urban BVLOS route to transport biological samples for diagnostic testing on-demand changes the way that hospitals and hospital systems can approach patient care, all while creating new efficiencies that can improve patient experiences and ensure that they keep pace with the demands of the 21^st century.”

Using Matternet’s unmanned aircraft, transportation between the two hospitals and their laboratories takes just seven minutes. This test is demonstrating the potential for drones to provide fast, on-demand delivery for individual urgent shipments, without congesting Zurich roads or emitting CO₂. Matternet drones transport medical items with secure end-to-end chain of custody and operate autonomously with remote supervision through Matternet’s Mission Control center in Zurich.

Currently, hospitals rely on ground transport to deliver samples to laboratories for testing. This usually means that large batches are sent via car or van, which can result in significant delays. This approach also creates a major burden for lab staff with huge influxes of tests received at once instead of a steady flow throughout the day. Additionally, for urgent, single-patient diagnostic tests, hospitals also rely on vehicle-based couriers, which can be even slower and less efficient.

Matternet is actively working on drone delivery networks that can fill urgent logistics needs in health care and help transition on-demand ecommerce to a sustainable mode of transport. In the U.S., the company recently received Type Certification and a production certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for their M2 drone, making them the first company to have FAA clearance to build and fly their own commercial delivery drone in that country.

“Switzerland has established itself as one of the most advanced countries in the world for scaled drone delivery operations,” added Raptopoulos. “And this new route in Zurich – built on the foundation of five years of successful operations in Switzerland – will help us create insights into developing a city-wide medical network that can become a template for similar networks in Europe, the U.S., and beyond.”

About Matternet

Matternet is the leading developer of commercial drone delivery systems for urban and suburban environments. The company ships the Matternet M2 drone and Matternet Software Platform and operates its technology directly for customers or in partnership with logistics organizations, such as UPS. In 2017, Matternet became the first company in the world to be authorized for commercial BVLOS operations of drone logistics networks over cities in Switzerland. In 2019, Matternet and UPS partnered to launch drone delivery services in the U.S. and together started the first revenue drone delivery operations in the U.S. In 2022, Matternet M2 became the first drone delivery system to achieve standard Type Certification by the Federal Aviation Administration in the U.S. To date, Matternet technology has enabled over 20,000 commercial flights.

For more information about Matternet, please visit https://mttr.net.

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