France's postal service has begun using drones to make parcel deliveries to a remote Alpine village. La Poste's subsidiary, DPD, says flying packages by remote control is more reliable, quicker and safer than driving a van up narrow mountain roads in winter when they are often icy or blocked by snow. The delivery by drone, which flies at around 30km/h, takes eight minutes for a round trip, compared with 30 minutes for a vehicle. Launched during a normal postal delivery round from a special launch-and-landing platform that emerges from the side of a vehicle, the drone is guided to a "secure terminal" near the village where it releases the package to be collected by the customer using a code. DPD began researching the possibility of using drones to make deliveries in 2014 and has been honing the technology ever since. La Poste was given permission by France's civil aviation authority to begin using the drones, which have six electric rotors that can be charged using solar panels, and a inbuilt GPS system, for deliveries in the Isère region of south-east France.