Matternet Cofounder and CEO of a startup called Matternet, Andreas Raptopoulos, believes his company makes unmanned aeral delivery vehicles (UAVs) rather than drones. He began making these after an epiphany moment three years ago when it struck him that a billion people around the world live in areas lacking reliable road systems and that drones can provide a more reliable way to deliver critical supplies and medicine.

Last September, Mr. Raptopoulos received validation for his work when he connected with Doctors Without Borders to test his UAVs by transferring tuberculosis diagnostics between villages in Paua New Guinea. During the two weeks Matternet conducted its trials, multiple trucks got trapped. “We had to do that trip four times and every time there was an element of fear,” he said. The trucks were stuck, but the drones navigated their routes without a hitch, flying through the air and landing in hospitals as far as 25 kms away.

Right now, UAVs are used to deliver medicine in Germany and the Federal Aviation Administration recently gave its approval for their use in shooting movie and TV scenes om the U.S.

“We are pioneering this technology by helping partners find ways to put it in the field now, but our vision is that we should be putting this type of technology into everybody’s hands,” he says, “Whether their purpose is in Papua New Guinea or Rio or Istanbul or Mexico City or in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and LA.”