DOT envisions drones delivering medical supplies in NC

The state Department of Transportation wants to see how well unmanned aircraft can transport medical supplies to hard-to-reach areas of North Carolina.

A medical delivery drone program in Malawi is credited with saving lives in remote areas of that African nation.

To date, however, drones haven't moved medical supplies anywhere in the U.S. The DOT last month submitted a proposal to the Federal Aviation Administration's Drone Integration Pilot Program to test the idea.

"We know from an engineering perspective, 'Hey, we can do mapping. We can go out during emergencies and see where's flooding areas, how bad is this rockslide.' But there's got to be other things beyond engineering, and this is one of those ideas that popped up," Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon said.

Drones could be just as useful in North Carolina as in Malawi, he said, especially to bypass heavy traffic and get supplies or samples from one hospital to another quickly.

"[They could be used] primarily in urban areas or places where you may have recurring congestion, difficult to get vehicles in, or remote," Trogdon said. "You can think of anything from downtown urban areas, mountains, eastern North Carolina."

The proposal would include DOT working with precision mapping companies to design an unmanned traffic management system, which would include testing ways to map the location and flight paths of drones in regard to current air traffic.

The state should know by May whether the FAA has approved DOT's proposal to test the idea.