Because autonomous delivery drones are undoubtedly coming, Boeing HorizonX Ventures, the aviation company’s venture arm, led a $16 million round in drone startup Matternet.

And it's got some clever new hardware to make it work.

During a medical emergency, every second matters–including the ones spent driving samples to and from external labs for testing. But what if they could be flown instead? That’s the idea behind a new fleet of delivery drones, developed by California-based Matternet for deployment in Switzerland.

The partners demonstrated a delivery live to an audience of media today, showing a coffee delivery from a small Swiss merchant using siroop’s platform.

Part delivery van, part helipad—that pretty much describes a handful of Mercedes-Benz vehicles that are currently cruising the streets of Zurich.

Matternet’s new system will let hospitals quickly move samples to labs and get extra blood for emergencies. It’s the first of its kind operating in a dense, urban environment.

Like a futuristic postal service... that delivers blood.

Matternet, a startup building autonomous drones for delivery, has been working to commercialize its tech via transportation of blood and pathology samples to labs. Taking traffic out of the equation has already shown it can cut hours off the testing process, but Matternet is pushing to become even more efficient at autonomous transportation. This drive led to the development of the Matternet Station — an automated basestation for swapping batteries and payloads on the company’s drones.

An early example of drone delivery in a populated urban area.

The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA) has granted Matternet a certification allowing their delivery drones to fly autonomously over cities at any time of day or night.

Mercedes-Benz Vans and drone tech startup Matternet have created a concept car, or as they’re calling it a Vision Van, that could change the way small packages are delivered across short distances.

Daimler AG will invest $562 million over the next five years to develop an advanced ecosystem of vans, flying drones, and robots—all linked via wireless networks—to speed up the delivery of packages and people.

Daimler AG said on Wednesday it would join with U.S. startup Matternet to develop drones for its delivery vans and invest €500 million ($562 million) over the next five years in designing electric, networked vans.

On Thursday June 30, the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, and e-Mprende, a local technology business incubator based in the Cybernetic Park of the Dominican Republic, signed a collaboration agreement to establish the first transportation network with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) to improve the response capacity of the Primary Healthcare Centers in rural areas of the Dominican Republic.

Drones are the sexy, mysterious tech craze that are often a butt of a joke, a vague solution or an ominous threat. But no matter how flashy, good technology should still solve concrete problems. Amid the hype of getting packages and pizzas delivered in half the time, what if drones could revolutionize transportation networks, connecting people to what they actually need the most?

Malawi has started a test program that uses drones to improve access to HIV testing for babies. Various factors, including poor roads and high transport costs, in remote areas often result in delays in testing that can prevent access to vital antiretroviral treatment.

“We believe our partnering with Unicef to test drones will help in our drive to achieve the country’s goals in HIV prevention and treatment,” said Malawi Minister of Health Dr. Peter Kumpalume.

The one-metre wide drone manufactured by US firm Matternet could mean the difference between life and death for people in Malawi’s remote communities.

UNICEF is trialling the use of drones to reduce waiting times for HIV test results in rural Africa.

The technology could reduce the time it takes to get an HIV diagnosis from months to days.