diff --git a/tests/periph_dma/main.c b/tests/periph_dma/main.c
index c297ce8b9a8ad155d3d18234ddbfaf7d272148a4..9347bcc4ad4a67074aaabce887eff2404825da19 100644
--- a/tests/periph_dma/main.c
+++ b/tests/periph_dma/main.c
@@ -21,7 +21,12 @@
 
 int main(void)
 {
-    puts("DMA dummy test app");
+    /*
+    This test is checking that DMA on UART is not broken when stdio UART is
+    configured with DMA.
+    Note that this message is also printed on 'normal' stdio UART (without DMA).
+    */
+    puts("DMA is working");
 
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tests/periph_dma/tests/01-run.py b/tests/periph_dma/tests/01-run.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..191650f6aed0854a317ab94b910a4945c6e4a03d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/periph_dma/tests/01-run.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+# Copyright (C) 2019 Inria
+#
+# This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser
+# General Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level
+# directory for more details.
+
+import sys
+from testrunner import run
+
+
+def testfunc(child):
+    child.expect_exact('DMA is working')
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(run(testfunc))