Innovative Swiss UAV-glider company Jedsy is partnering with German medical group Asklepios Kliniken in a project to create a broad network of drone delivery routes between hospitals and labs that analyze patient blood, tissue, and other samples.

Under the pairing, Asklepios’s Medilys division of analysis and diagnostic labs will be connected with group facilities that take patient samples via drone deliveries operated by Jedsy. The plan is already laying the foundations for a first series of routes to be established and tested, with nearly 50 additional flight paths expected to be quickly added thereafter.

If completed, the venture would create a Jedsy drone delivery patchwork linking many of the nearly 170 healthcare operations Asklepios has assembled across Germany since its founding in 1985.

Central to the plan is Jedsy’s unusual tech approach to the standard medical UAV delivery paradigm. That begins with the Swiss startup’s drone: a fixed-wing craft with vertical takeoff and landing functionality that, once in flight, shifts between rotor-powered propulsion and glider mode for maximum efficiency. 

That configuration has allowed the craft to attain maximum flight ranges of 120 km, and up to 75 minutes of battery life. Its five different situational awareness sensors, meanwhile, facilitate autonomous operation the UAV is designed for.

The Jedsy drone-glider is manufactured to operate using the company’s “Mailbox” landing, loading, and charging dock installed on the façade of clients’ buildings.

That system – which resembles a bike rack hanging from a user’s window ledge ­– allows for fast and easy payload retrieval from and loading into the UAV, and requires no ground facilities to be set aside for aircraft operation.

By adopting that (ahem) off-the-wall concept, and Jedsy’s motto of “Delivery when it matters,” Asklepios and Medilys aim to deliver faster medical results to group doctors and their patients using the speed and efficiency of drones. 

Meanwhile, the partnership intends to expand to the point where Asklepios’s carbon emissions will be decreased by a whopping 99% as car and van transport of lab samples are replaced with aerial alternatives.

“This bold expansion underscores their steadfast commitment to efficiently serve an ever-growing healthcare network, ensuring patients have timely access to care precisely where and when it’s needed most,” Jedsy explained in a third person communiqué on its alliance with Asklepios and Medilys. “Drone delivery’s superior speed, reduced environmental impact, and enhanced accessibility reflect their dedication to pioneering healthcare logistics.”