France's Postal Service is Experimenting with Drone Mail Delivery LaPoste could beat Amazon and Google to the punch.
By Nina Zipkin •
While Amazon and Google have hit a few regulatory snags in their efforts to incorporate drones into their business (at least in the US), France is getting ready to say "allons-y," or let's go, to drone package delivery, reports VentureBeat.
This week, GeoPost, the package delivery subsidiary of the French national postal service LaPoste, completed its first round of testing for drone deliveries.
Related: Has TGI Friday's Ruined Drones for Restaurants Everywhere?
GeoPost's UAV prototype was developed with a company called Atechsys that specializes in building drones. In the test, the drone safely took off, landed and carried a 2 kilogram package for 1.2 kilometers. According to an announcement from GeoPost, the drone is meant to able to carry a parcel of up to 4 kilograms up to 20 kilometers.
While there is no official start date for the GeoDrone project, it is against the law in France to fly drones "over heavily populated areas," according to VentureBeat. But the six-propeller UAV's are likely to be used for deliveries to isolated or far-flung locations, or in the event of a medical emergency.
Related: The 'Paper' Airplane to Rule Them All
Check out the video below.
