In order to make the deliveries via UAS, a UPS driver first loads a package into a cage that is suspended beneath the UAS and extended through a hatch into the truck. The driver then presses a button on a touch screen that sends the UAS on a preset autonomous route to an address. After it makes its delivery, the UAS returns to the dock on the roof of the delivery truck, where it recharges in between flights.

“This test is different than anything we’ve done with drones so far,” says UPS’ senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability Mark Wallace through press release. “It has implications for future deliveries, especially in rural locations where our package cars often have to travel miles to make a single delivery.”