Posten Norge is testing drone deliveries

Posten and Bring’s first test project with autonomous drones are now flying from Snåsa to Namsos with water samples. Delivery by drone cuts both time and CO2 emissions.

"We are testing drone deliveries to learn how we can use this technology in the future. Along with our great partners we are now looking at how logistics may look like in the future, especially when there are demanding geographical conditions and tight deadlines. We also see that there is an environmental benefit with drones since we have reduced the time it takes to transport the water samples with 34 per cent and the CO2 footprint by 95 per cent", says Kenneth Tjønndal Pettersen, press officer at Posten Norge.

Delivery of water samples from Snåsavann in Snåsa to Nemko Norlab in Namsos is a trial project. The distance between the bottling plant to the lab is 51 kilometers. Normally the water is transported by car or truck. The water samples are dependent on arriving at the testlab within a short time.

"We want to explore the possibilities of new technology and get to know how Posten in the future can make use of drones and similar technologies. Today, there are both technical and legal conditions that determines that drone-technology cannot be used in large scale in Norway. In this test-project, we were lucky enough that one of our customers wanted to take part, so we took the opportunity. It gives us valuable insight in how we can make use of drones in the future", Pettersen continues.

The drone startup-company Aviant delivers the technology to the trial project. The autonomous drone is electric and has a wingspan of 2.5 meters and a cruising speed of 85 km/t. For now, the load capacity is three kilograms stored inside the body of the drone.

40 flights with the drone between Snåsa and Namsos are planned this fall and the project will continue in the following months.

Video from the test-project for download:

http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/0zt4x

http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/0aa9t