UPS and CVS deliver medicine via drones

UPS and CVS are partnering to deliver prescription medicine via drones to residents of The Villages retirement community in Florida. The service, which uses Matternet’s M2 drones, is being conducted with authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The drone deliveries began in early May. The flights are less than half a mile and are delivered to a pickup location near the retirement community. A UPS ground vehicle completes the delivery to the resident’s door. The prescriptions are delivered from one CVS store, with two additional stores joining at a later date. UPS, which has been conducting limited drone delivery experiments in North Carolina, said it is expanding its drone service to help people who are sheltering in place due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.