Residents of The Villages, Florida’s largest retirement community, can soon get their medications delivered by drone

A new drone delivery service from CVS and UPS is coming to The Villages, Florida’s largest retirement community.

The company is rolling out medication drone delivery to residents starting May 4, said The Verge. The service recently got permission from the Federal Aviation Administration and will be using Matternet’s M2 Drones.

The first flights will be less than half a mile, and will drop off prescriptions to a location near the community, where a truck will then finish the delivery, according to CNBC. UPS, which has already started their drone deliveries in North Carolina, says the service is expanding to assist people quarantined due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“Our new drone delivery service will help CVS provide safe and efficient deliveries of medicines to this large retirement community, enabling residents to receive medications without leaving their homes,” said Scott Price, UPS chief strategy and transformation officer, in a statement. “UPS is committed to playing its part in fighting COVID-19, and this is another way we can support our healthcare customers and individuals with innovative solutions.”

The service is still in its testing phases and not ready to “scale significantly,” said The Verge.

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This story originally appeared in our sister paper Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
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