Zipline (drone delivery company)

Zipline International Inc. is an American company that designs, manufactures, and operates delivery drones. The company operates distribution centers in the United States, Rwanda, Ghana, Japan, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and Kenya. As of April 2024, its drones have made more than one million commercial deliveries and flown more than 70 million autonomous miles.
The company designs and manufactures its drones, and builds and operates its distribution centers, which also serve as a drone airport. The company's drones deliver whole blood, platelets, frozen plasma, and cryoprecipitate along with medical products, including vaccines, infusions, and common medical commodities. As of September 2021, more than 75 percent of blood deliveries in Rwanda outside of Kigali use Zipline drones. In April 2019 in Ghana, the company began using drones to deliver vaccines, blood, and medicines. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted a Part 107 aviation waiver to Zipline's partner organization Novant Health for the delivery of medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical facilities in North Carolina.
The company also offers delivery services for non-medical products, including partnerships with Walmart which started in 2021, and with Sweetgreen which was announced in 2023. Its website features uses for restaurants, groceries, convenience shopping, and e-commerce.
The Platform 1 fixed-wing drones weigh 44 pounds (20 kg) and can carry up to 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of cargo. While they can fly 300 km (190 mi) on a charge, they limit themselves to destinations within 80 km (50 mi). The drones have a quickly-replaceable battery that allows rapid turnaround between flights. It has an inner carbon-fiber frame and an outer polystyrene shell. The wingspan is 11 feet (3.4 m).
The drones have two propellers for redundancy and can fly safely on a single propeller or motor. A parachute that will bring the drone to the ground can be deployed if a larger set of faults occur. If the drone crashes, the outer components are frangible, breaking to release energy and impact the ground with less force.
Zipline's drones are capable of "level 4" autonomy: the ability to complete travel autonomously under normal environmental conditions without requiring pilot oversight.
Medical staff at remote hospitals and clinics place orders with Zipline, a fulfillment operator receives this order and prepares the medical products into a special delivery package with a parachute. A Zipline flight operator then packs the medical products into a drone and performs pre-flight checks.
The drone is then launched with a supercapacitor-powered electric catapult launcher which accelerates it to 67 miles per hour (108 km/h) in 0.33 seconds. The drone cruises at 101 km/h (63 mph) at an altitude of 80–120 metres (260–390 ft) above ground level, while a remote pilot at each distribution center monitors all drones in flight. The drone descends to 20–35 metres (66–115 ft) before dropping the package under a paper "Drogue" parachute. A payload can land within a 5 m (16 ft) diameter landing zone.
The drone then returns to the distribution center and lands by its tail hook catching an arresting gear, similar to airplanes landing on an aircraft carrier. A Zipline distribution center can deliver medical supplies reliably anywhere within 100 km (62 mi), even accounting for mountainous terrain and severe weather.
The Platform 2 VTOL drones, announced in March 2023, are suited for shorter range home deliveries. They take off and land vertically, are capable of fixed-wing flight at up to 110 kilometres per hour (70 mph), and hover at an altitude of 100 metres (330 ft) to slowly lower packages on a wire. Packages are lowered in a delivery "droid" that uses sensors and propellers to deliver the package within a 1 metre (3.3 ft) diameter. The drones can carry up to 8 pounds (3.6 kg) of cargo within a 10 mi (16 km) radius, are capable of a more precise delivery than its previous generation, and can recharge autonomously.
Zipline operates two distribution centers in Rwanda.
Zipline began deliveries at its first distribution center in Muhanga in late 2016. In 2018, the Rwandan government signed a new deal to build a second distribution center near Kayonza, in the eastern part of the country. This deal expanded Zipline's service to include smaller health centers and hospitals and deliver vaccines and other medical products and blood products. Zipline opened the Kayonza distribution center in December 2018. The company hoped this would bring coverage to 80 percent of the country.
Rwanda has mountainous geography and poor road conditions, making an aerial delivery system more efficient than the use of land vehicles. The cost of delivery via drone is comparable to that of delivery by road, especially in emergencies. A 2022 study found that Zipline's service in Rwanda leads to faster delivery times relative to existing ground transportation and less blood component wastage in health facilities. The study found that Zipline's drone delivery service in Rwanda shortened blood product delivery times by 61 percent, reduced blood unit expirations by 67 percent, and was frequently used in response to medical emergencies, with 43 percent of orders being emergency orders.
In 2018, Zipline signed a contract with the government of Ghana to make up to 600 deliveries a day for four years at the cost of about $12.5 million. In April 2019, Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo announced the opening of the first distribution center in Ghana. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia launched the first Zipline drone to Tafo Hospital on April 24, 2019. This first delivery contained a resupply shipment of yellow fever vaccines to prevent stock-out.
In 2021, the government of Ghana expanded its contract with Zipline to add four additional distribution centers, bringing the total number of contracted distribution centers in the country to eight. Zipline presently operates six distribution centers in Ghana, serving over 2,300 health facilities. When the network is complete, Zipline will be able to serve about 85 percent of the population directly and the remainder indirectly, reaching over 3,200 health facilities in every region of the country.
In March 2022, Zipline announced that the company had delivered over one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by drone in Ghana over the prior year. An independent study of Zipline's impact on the health system in Ghana found that Zipline's drone delivery service shortened vaccine stock-outs by 60 percent, decreased inventory-driven missed vaccination opportunities by 42 percent, decreased days facilities were without critical medical supplies by 21 percent, and increased the types of medicines and supplies stocked at health facilities by 10 percent.
As of 2018, Zipline was working with the FAA to develop rules for drone operation beyond the line of sight.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the FAA granted a Part 107 waiver to Novant Health in partnership with Zipline for the delivery of medical supplies and personal protective equipment to facilities in North Carolina. The company plans to offer deliveries to homes.
On November 18, 2021, Zipline started a trial service with Walmart for e-commerce shopping deliveries in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. The service, selectable to online shoppers using a special mobile app, could deliver to all residences within 50 miles (80 km) of a particular Walmart store in Pea Ridge during daylight hours.
On June 21, 2022, the license "Package Delivery by Drone (Part 135)" was granted.
On October 4, 2022, Zipline began commercial delivery services in Salt Lake City, Utah, in partnership with Intermountain Healthcare.
In early 2025, Zipline partnered with Walmart to offer deliveries in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex using Platform 2 drones.
In April 2021, Zipline announced a partnership with an investor, Toyota Tsusho, to deliver medical products in Japan. While most Zipline facilities are staffed by locally hired operators employed by Zipline, the facilities in Japan are distinct in that they are operated by Sora-iina, a Toyota Tsusho Group company, and staffed by Toyota Tsusho employees. Zipline provides hardware and training in an OEM capacity. Construction of the first distribution center was completed in April 2022 on Fukue Island in the Gotō Islands. The drone delivery service will supply medical and pharmaceutical products to medical institutions and pharmacies in the Gotō Islands, which include 140 total islands (and five main localities). The use of drone delivery to assure routine distribution of medical products is expected to cut current sea and air transport options from several hours down to 30 minutes.
In February 2021, Zipline announced a plan to construct three distribution centers in Kaduna State, Nigeria. These distribution centers would have ultra-cold storage that is capable of safely storing COVID-19 vaccines, for which health facilities in the state could then place on-demand orders without needing ultra-cold storage of their own. The state also intends to use Zipline's service to transport other health products, including blood, medication, and routine vaccines. In May 2021, Zipline announced a similar agreement with Cross River State. In February 2022, Zipline announced another agreement with Bayelsa State.
The first hub opened in Kaduna state in an undisclosed location on June 4, 2022.
In December 2021, the company announced an agreement to open four distribution centers in Côte d'Ivoire, it received its license to begin operations in January 2023.
In February 2022, the company announced an agreement to build a distribution center in Chemelil, Kisumu County. and began in October that year, as well as medical supplies it delivers veterinary goods and animal DNA, it serves 1012 facilities within the surrounding Region.
In June 2022 it was announced by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health that talks were ongoing to partner with Zipline to build ten Zipline distribution hubs in Ukraine in areas such as Tlumach.
In February 2024 Zipline posted adverts on LinkedIn for "Flight Operations Lead", "Head of Business Operations" and "Flight Operator / Maintenance Technician" in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Between July 30 and September 5, 2019, Zipline partnered with the US and Australian militaries, delivering over 400 mock blood supplies during mass casualty simulations.