Last year, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos made a joint announcement with Oliver Evans, former chief cargo officer of Swiss International Airlines, that his company would work with Swiss WorldCargo and Swiss Post on testing the Matternet ONE drone as an automated cargo delivery system. Last summer, they executed successful tests in Switzerland.

Evans, who is now head of global business development for Matternet, said the company is now proceeding to the next stage, which “involves planning to fly further routes on behalf of customers of Swiss WorldCargo, with actual shipments on board.”

Meanwhile, DHL’s parcelcopter concept which conducted its pilot projects last fall will resume testing this week. This test will subject the UAV to the conditions of a mountain region. This test will include application of the fully automated loading and unloading of parcels, which will be tested in a specially modified DHL Packstation kiosk, called the “Parcelcopter Skyport.”

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