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AUSTIN, TEXAS — A Texas-based design firm has illustrated plans for an ambulance drone that can help transporting patients faster and more efficiently than regular ambulances or helicopters.

The concept of ambulance drone was submitted by argodesign to Co.Design’s Body Week, which features innovative technologies mainly concerning health and related subjects.

The ambulance drone is modelled after a standard quadcopter, which is roughly the size of a compact car. The drone can follow a GPS location, be remotely controlled by a pilot, or a combination of both. It can travel on autopilot, while a pilot can control the drone remotely in case of difficult takeoffs and landings. One single pilot can also control a whole fleet of ambulance drones remotely.

The drone is able to travel above traffic or other obstacles on the ground, so that it can arrive at its location faster than regular ambulances. Given its relatively small size, the drone could land almost anywhere.

"I wouldn’t be surprised to get emails, to hear lots of the aeronautics companies saying, ‘we are working on something like this,’" Mark Rolston, the founder of argodesign told Co.Design. "It makes perfect sense. We may have underestimated the wingspan challenge for lift, but in a greater scheme of things, that’s a trivial part of the idea."