The innovator that is France

This is on multiple news sites and the articles claim indeed swear they are not April Fools’ jokes (update: though it seems they are), so here goes:

In Auvergne, a province in central France, residents get their daily news the old-fashioned way: through newspapers. But the delivery of said newspapers, apparently, will soon be executed with the help of high tech — because it’ll be done with the help of drones.

Auvergne’s local postal service, La Poste Group, announced on its blog that it is partnering with the drone-maker Parrot to explore the wacky world of high-flying news delivery. The service will be called “Parrot Air Drone Postal,” and it will make use of Parrot’s quadricopter drones. To test its general feasibility, the delivery service is already being, er, piloted in Auvergne, Silicon Alley Insider reports, with a team of 20 postal workers and 20 drones. (The postal workers control the drones by a specialized app — which they can use on iOS or Android devices.)

For the pointer I thank Charlie Schaezlein, a loyal MR reader.