Silicon Valley Startup Develops Drone-Delivery System
Matternet is working on delivery drones flying on fixed routes between base stations
While Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. aim to use drones to ship packages to customers—an exceedingly complex task—one Silicon Valley startup says there is an easier way to deliver with drones.
Matternet Inc. is working on creating networks of delivery drones that fly on largely fixed routes between base stations. The system can serve as a cheap and efficient infrastructure to transport crucial goods in the developing world, the company says, or a shipping pipeline for companies to move inventory between stores or to frequent large-scale customers.
Drone delivery direct to consumers, as Amazon and Google envision, faces technical hurdles including short battery life, which limits range, and the need for sensors and software to avoid obstacles. Companies also are grappling with how to safely and accurately drop off packages.Matternet aims to sell its delivery-drone systems to companies, governments and aid groups. “We want to be the people that enableFedEx and UPS and many other smaller and bigger players to take [drone delivery] to the marketplace and make it widespread,” saidAndreas Raptopoulos, Matternet’s 41-year-old chief executive.
Matternet claims its self-contained delivery network clears many of those hurdles. Its base stations swap in new batteries when drones arrive, enabling Matternet’s devices can carry 2.2 pounds within a 12.5 miles radius—farther than many competitors. And flying fixed routes means drones can operate autonomously without collision-avoidance technology because their routes can be mapped to account for known obstacles like trees or power lines, Mr. Raptopoulos said.
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For drop off, instead of having to pick the right doorstep in a dense neighborhood, the drones remember base-station locations and land by aligning their cameras with patterns there.
Matternet’s current system likely wouldn’t fly with U.S. regulators, who plan to prohibit drone flights beyond eyeshot of the operator if the devices lack collision-avoidance technology. The company says it would use such technology once available.
Matternet has tested delivering medical and emergency supplies in developing countries including Haiti and Papua New Guinea. In Bhutan, where mountainous terrain and poor infrastructure make truck deliveries difficult, Matternet worked with the World Health Organization to test distributing medicine to nearly 180 remote clinics. Nearly 80% of those clinics are within a 30-minute drone flight of a hospital, Mr. Raptopoulos said.
Mr. Raptopoulos said Matternet can build a network of 150 delivery drones covering 140 square miles for $900,000.
Founded in 2011, Matternet now is focusing more on general logistics. Mr. Raptopoulos said large logistics companies could use Matternet drones to make frequent, small deliveries to big corporations or government agencies, and retailers could use the devices to manage inventory. If, for example, a pharmacy customer wants something that isn’t in stock, drones could quickly deliver it from another location, he said.
