UPS and CVS Launch Drone Medicine Deliveries to America's Largest Retirement Community

UPS Flight Forward and CVS Health have announced the launch of a drone-based prescription delivery service for The Villages retirement community in Florida, home to more than 135,000 residents. Flights will begin operating in early May 2020 using Matternet's M2 drone, as part of the companies' response to the coronavirus pandemic.

A delivery service born out of the COVID-19 crisis

UPS and CVS Health announced yesterday, April 27, a new partnership designed to ease pressure on a population at particularly high risk during the pandemic: residents of the largest retirement community in the United States. The service will launch in early May and operate under a Part 107 waiver from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), meaning the flights will be fully supervised rather than conducted under an extended long-range BVLOS permit.

The hub of the service is a CVS pharmacy, from which the drones will take off toward the community. It's a relatively cautious pilot program in terms of actual flight range.

• Technology provider: Matternet, M2 model
• Initial flight range: less than half a mile
• Delivery method: package drop at a designated point near the community, followed by last-mile delivery to the resident's door via ground vehicle
• Regulatory framework: FAA Part 107
• Launch date: early May 2020

Why The Villages specifically?

The choice of this community is no coincidence. The Villages is the largest retirement community in the United States, and its residents, most of them seniors, belong to the group most at risk of severe COVID-19 complications. UPS and CVS frame the service around two stated goals: speeding delivery of time-sensitive medications, and reducing person-to-person contact so that older residents don't have to travel to a pharmacy in person or receive packages hand-to-hand from a courier.

What else is known about the expansion plans?

The companies said the service will continue for the duration of the pandemic, with decisions on expanding it to be based on actual demand. At this stage, it remains a limited program in terms of coverage area, so the practical question is how far the flight range can eventually be extended, and whether the manual ground-based final leg of the route can gradually be phased out, since part of the journey is currently still completed by regular vehicle rather than by drone alone.

Operationally, this isn't UPS Flight Forward's first experiment in the field: the company already held drone operating approvals in the United States before the pandemic broke out. The partnership with CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the country, adds significant logistical weight to the project, though it remains a limited-scale trial that will show the companies whether the model can be replicated in other communities across the country.