Flipkart to pilot drone delivery of vaccines in Telangana
Premium- Flipkart said it will utilize learnings from its tech-enabled supply chain to deploy drones and enable deliveries of medical supplies
BENGALURU : E-commerce firm Flipkart on Friday said it has partnered with the Telangana government to lead a consortium tasked with the development and execution of drone deliveries of medical supplies to remote areas under the ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project.
Flipkart said it will utilize learnings from its tech-enabled supply chain to deploy drones and enable deliveries of medical supplies. These efforts will be complemented with technologies such as geo-mapping, routing of shipments and track and trace of location it has developed over the years.
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Some of these technologies will then be used to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) deliveries in remote areas of the state where the road infrastructure is not conducive for fast delivery of vaccines. The pilot, which is expected to be conducted for over six days, will be tested out for delivering thousands of vaccines while keeping in mind all the safety and efficiency parameters.
Pranav Saxena, distinguished product manager, Flipkart said, “The covid-19 crisis has pushed the envelope in the rapid development of scalable and robust technologies and the Medicines from the Sky project is a testament to that. It is a decisive step in making use of cutting-edge technologies for the safety and wellbeing of the masses. We are proud to partner the Telangana government in leading the consortium by utilising our nuanced understanding of supply chain and technologies governing automated movement of shipments in fulfilling the dire needs of citizens across the state. This pilot will set the premise for the utilisation of drone systems in providing healthcare and product delivery in remote areas and even during disasters".
The ‘Medicines from the Sky’ is a project conceived by the World Economic Forum and Healthnet Global Limited that outlines the requirements for drone delivery and how to assess proposals. The Telangana government has adopted this framework to implement drones for last mile delivery and will integrate them into the state’s healthcare supply chain.
“Telangana has been a pioneer in using technology for improving the lives of the citizens. Using drones to deliver healthcare supplies to people in remote and inaccessible areas is a one-of-a-kind initiative ever undertaken in our country and we are happy to lead this initiative in collaboration with partners such as Flipkart. This will go a long way in testing best-in-class technology solutions to tide over future crises," said Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary (IT and I&C), Government of Telangana.
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