Ambulance drones could bring defibrillators in minutes

The main merit of the prototype is that by flying over roads, it could get life-saving equipment to a patient before emergency services arrive when every minute counts, according to the university.

"The ambulance drone can get a defibrillator to a patient inside a 12 square km zone within one minute," Momont said in a release. "This response speed increases the chance of survival following a cardiac arrest from 8 percent to 80 percent."

A YouTube video shows a dramatisation of how the drone would be used, with a woman picking it up at the entrance to a building where her father has collapsed.

The drones would cost 15,000 euros (US$19,074) each and could help treat some of the roughly 800,000 people who suffer cardiac arrest in the EU every year, according to Momont.

One obstacle to implementation is that Dutch law currently forbids autonomous drones. Another is that the device's ability to avoid obstacles in its path must be improved.