French Postal Service Developing Drone For Rural Deliveries

France's postal service — La Poste — is doing what Amazon still dreams of: prepping a drone for delivering packages. Unlike the popular quadcopters dotting the sky, France's delivery drone will have a bit more power with the use of six rotors, and is intended to take packages to more rural areas where it might otherwise be difficult to deliver a parcel. The drone has already undergone testing for the past three months, and is said to be able to deliver in all weather conditions.

The testing has been done by Express Internationale GeoPost, and according to The Telegraph, it has all been successful. The drone itself can handle packages up to 16 x 12 x 8-inches, and is able to make deliveries in a 12-mile radius. According to the company testing it, the drone is automated.

The drone delivery possibilities are still be explored at this point, but the idea behind it all is that rural and otherwise remote locations — or regions temporarily blocked by things like flooding — can have needed medical supplies and such delivered at faster rates than by vehicle.

It isn't clear whether La Poste envisions one day using the drone for delivering ordinary packages to rural locations, as well. And though the entire effort is promising, issues with regulations will need to ironed out, though use in remote locations is said to be more lax than in cities.

SOURCE: The Telegraph