Chinese Aerial technology company EHang Holdings Limited on Thursday announced a collaboration with U.S. company Lung Biotechnology to develop and purchase 1,000 drones to automate organ transplant delivery.
They will develop a modified version of EHang's 184, the world's first autonomous drone capable of carrying humans, to optimize it for organ delivery. The companies have agreed to work together over the next 15 years under a program named the Manufactured Organ Transport Helicopter (MOTH) system.
The collaboration could revolutionize the way organs are transported in the United States, with the potential to save tens of thousands of lives, according to EHang.
Lung Biotechnology specializes in producing artificial lungs and other organs for transplant.
It plans to station MOTH rotorcraft outside its organ production facilities and use preprogrammed flight plans to hospitals and re-charging pads within the MOTH radius, allowing organs to be delivered within their viability windows.
The 184 is an autonomous drone that can carry a passenger more than 10 miles through the air at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour when a destination is entered into a mobile app.
It is perfectly suited for many medical emergency transportation services, according to Ehang.
Ehang is a leading aerial technology company headquartered in the south China city of Guangzhou. It unveiled the world's first autonomous aerial vehicle at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 earlier this year in Las Vegas.
