Kidney Flown by Autonomous Drone at 120 km/h in French Transplant First
In a groundbreaking preclinical trial, a kidney destined for scientific research was successfully transported by an autonomous drone between two hospitals in western France, marking a world first for organ transport by unmanned aerial vehicle. The test, conducted on July 7, 2026, saw the organ travel 60 kilometers from the University Hospital of Nantes (CHU de Nantes) to the hospital of La Roche-sur-Yon in approximately 35 minutes at speeds of up to 120 km/h — twice as fast as a car traveling without traffic, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
A Leap Forward for Organ Transport
The experiment was initiated by Professor Julien Branchereau, a hospital practitioner in urology and kidney transplantation at CHU de Nantes, in collaboration with the CR2TI (Transplantation and Immunology Research Center) affiliated with Inserm, and Dr. Mesnard. The drone, supplied by the Rouen-based startup Delivrone, was a fully autonomous 100% electric aircraft with a wingspan of 2.70 meters, capable of operating around the clock.
Throughout the flight, the kidney was maintained at a constant 4°C (39°F), despite outside temperatures reaching nearly 32°C (90°F). The drone flew at an altitude of 80 meters, demonstrating the feasibility of maintaining precise environmental conditions for sensitive medical cargo during autonomous flight.
“The shorter the transport time, the faster the transplanted kidney will function again and the greater the survival chances of the organ,” Professor Branchereau told HLN. He added that the objective was to determine whether organ transport by drone is both feasible and safe, calling the results “particularly encouraging.”
Building on Previous Milestones
While this is the first autonomous drone organ transport, it builds on earlier work. In 2019, a piloted thermal drone successfully delivered a kidney for a successful transplant in Maryland, USA. A preliminary test using a piloted thermal drone was also conducted in the same region of France in 2025. The 2026 trial is notable for using a fully autonomous electric drone, eliminating the need for a human pilot.
Gautier Dhaussy, cofounder of Delivrone, explained that the company was contacted by CHU de Nantes a little over six months ago. “They were working on improving graft transport time,” he said. Delivrone, founded in 2021, has already flown over 100,000 kilometers transporting blood samples, defibrillators, and medications between healthcare facilities. “Our work is to mesh the hospitals of the territory with an aerial network,” Dhaussy added.
Implications for Transplant Medicine
Kidneys are typically transported by road, rail, or air, and a high-quality kidney can survive up to 24 hours outside the body. However, longer transport times correlate with slower function recovery after transplantation. Faster transport means faster organ function recovery and longer organ survival — a critical factor given the thousands of patients awaiting kidney transplants across Europe.
If real-world tests proceed, this would be a European first for routine drone organ transport. The hospitals involved are now evaluating whether donor organs can be transported by drone under real clinical conditions in the near future.
Challenges Ahead
Despite the technical success, several hurdles remain before drone organ transport becomes commonplace. Regulatory approvals from civil aviation authorities are needed for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations. Weather limitations, public acceptance, and the security of organ transport — ensuring organs cannot be intercepted or tampered with during flight — are additional considerations. The initial infrastructure investment for drone ports at hospitals also presents a financial challenge.
What’s Next
The successful preclinical trial paves the way for real-world tests with actual human kidneys for transplantation, potentially within months. If deployed widely, drone networks could dramatically reduce organ transport times, increasing the pool of viable organs for transplant and saving countless lives. Delivrone’s existing infrastructure and experience provide a foundation for scaling up from a single route to a national network connecting hospitals across France.
“The goal is to perform transplantations with a delay where the kidney is preserved in the shortest possible time in order to retransplant it,” Professor Branchereau said. With this successful trial, that goal has moved significantly closer to reality.