STUTTGART/ZURICH: In a global first, online orders were delivered in Zurich for three weeks with the aid of vans and drones.
Declaring the trial a success, Mercedes-Benz worked with Matternet and siroop.ch to test on-demand delivery of e-commerce orders.
The trial of a van and drone combo was carried out over an urban area from Sept 25 to Oct 13.
A group of journalists was invited to watch live on Sept 28 as the first official drone landed on the specially equipped Vito.
Over 10 days, 100 flights were made without incident over Zurich. The project made use of two drones and two Mercedes-Benz Vito vans with integrated landing platforms. Technology installed in the vehicle roofs ensured that landings were accurate and safe.
The main objective for the project team was to test the processes and procedures required to operate a delivery system of this kind and to learn from practical experience. "We are satisfied with the results of the pilot project in Switzerland. The aim was to test the technology and the concept in real-world conditions and find out where optimisation was required. We also wanted to know how people would react to this new form of transportation," said Stefan Maurer, Head of Future Transportation at Mercedes-Benz Vans.
The results of the trials are currently being analysed in depth. "We are convinced that the project will evolve rapidly. We see great potential for our solution and intend to expand it to include further areas of application," Maurer added.
