We have been talking about drone delivery for more than a decade, but now it’s actually here. Really.
Okay, kind of.
Over the past couple of months, Zipline has started making home drone deliveries in Arkansas and Dallas. You hop on an app, order up to 8 pounds of products, and they fly to you in minutes. People have been posting away about their sky sandwiches on X.
We spent a couple of days with Zipline for this piece in which we get into the company’s history – it’s actually been doing long range deliveries of medical supplies and other goods for years – its product testing and, of course, its delivery systems.
The video speaks for itself, but I will add some additional points here, having experienced the deliveries firsthand. The most striking thing about Zipline’s aircraft is that they’re quiet. Much quieter than I expected.
They use a larger craft to do the bulk of the flying and then have a mini delivery drone lower to the ground with products. As a result, most of the noise is hundreds of feet above your head.
I was beyond skeptical on the noise point and will give credit where it’s due. Zipline’s engineering team has done a good job at curbing some of the worst qualities of drones to make this delivery system palatable to the public.
Overall, I’ve been skeptical of drone delivery as a concept. It’s taken a long, long time to get here after tons of hype. That said, it seems to make an awful lot of sense to have these things flying around for the vast majority of products we order instead of relying on a multi-thousand pound car packed with a human to deliver a pizza or a toothbrush.
Anyway, Zipline has a remarkable and unusual story for a start-up. It’s been at this for about a decade. If you want more on the journey, we have a podcast with the company’s co-founder and CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton.
https://www.corememory.com/p/keller-rinaudo-cliffton-on-ziplines
Enjoy!
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