With less than 100 days to go before Paris hosts the 2024 Olympics, which organisers plan to open with an elaborate waterborne ceremony on the Seine river, concerns are mounting about the efficiency of the anti-drone shield meant to protect the French capital from a potential terror attack. According to several security sources, recent tests […]
Zipline, the world’s largest autonomous delivery system, has just become the first company in history to complete one million commercial drone deliveries to customers. If Zipline’s autonomous software was a human pilot, it would have already spent more than 120 years flying in the air. Zipline’s zero-emission autonomous drones have now flown more than 70 […]
New Battery Technology Enables Avy Drones to Double Flight Duration Avy, the Amsterdam-based electric aircraft manufacturer, has announced a significant enhancement in its drone capabilities through a collaboration with Tulip, a provider of aviation battery technology. This partnership has resulted in a new battery that allows Avy’s drones to fly almost twice as long as […]
New Legislation by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik Aims to Secure Drone Use for First Responders A new legislative proposal in the U.S. Congress, known as the Drones for First Responders (DFR) Act, is poised to strike a careful balance between enhancing national security and supporting domestic drone manufacturing. This bill, introduced by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), […]
Zipline, which is generally considered the world leader in drone deliveries, has achieved a historic milestone: completing one million commercial drone deliveries to customers.
It’s a huge leap for the drone delivery space, especially when you account for the company’s exponential growth in achieving the milestone. About 70% of those one million deliveries were executed in the last two years alone.
Check out this graphic showing Zipline’s commercial drone deliveries over time:
Graphic courtesy of Zipline
And how’s this for a wild fact: one million drone deliveries equates to more than 70 million miles flown. Those flights have spanned four continents and have delivered more than 10 million products.
Zipline has done so many flights across all its aircraft that it’s clocked more than 1 million flight hours. Yes, that’s the equivalent of about a single aircraft flying non-stop for 120 years straight.
Zipline is hardly stopping with one million though — and that exponential growth only looks set to grow. That’s because Zipline used today’s hoopla to also announce fresh partnerships. Soon, Zipline will use its Platform 2 system to deliver Panera Bread orders in the greater Seattle area, medical supplies from the Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, and Jet’s Pizza in the Detroit metro area.
The P2 system launched in March 2023 as a way to make operations faster, more precise and more efficient. The unique deliver design costs of what’s basically a two-part drone: the primary aircraft for long-distance travel and a detachable “delivery droid.” With it, the primary drone carries the droid to a designated landing zone near the delivery location. From there, the droid detaches from the primary drone, lowers itself via a tether, and gently deposits the package at the customer’s doorstep.
Here’s what to expect from each of those companies:
Panera Bread: Flynn Group, a major Panera Bread franchise operator, will leverage Zipline for deliveries in the Seattle area. Panera customers will place orders for Zipline delivery directly through Zipline’s app, upon which the drones will deliver to eligible homes.
Memorial Hermann Health System: This Texas-based not-for-profit health systems will use Zipline to deliver specialty prescriptions and medical devices directly to patients’ homes, as well as to transport medicine, medical products, and lab samples between its facilities. The service comes at no added cost to the patients.
Jet’s Pizza: The Detroit-based pizza chain will use Zipline to customers in Detroit. Each Zipline P2 drone is capable of delivering two large Detroit-style pizzas along with sides.
(Photo courtesy of Zipline)
It’s perhaps unsurprising that Zipline beat out drone delivery competitors such as Wing in reaching the million delivery milestone. Zipline boasts a remarkable delivery frequency of one drone delivery every 70 seconds. It also holds records for the longest autonomous drone deliveries in the U.S. (without visual observers) and the world.
For now, Zipline has put together a fun little video celebrating its one million deliveries:
Amsterdam Drone Week continued Wednesday with a keynote address by Dan Dalton, Vice President of Global Partnerships at global AAM provider Wisk, now a fully-owned subsidiary of global aerospace giant Boeing. Wisk believes that they are building the very first certified autonomous air taxi. It’s a huge milestone for the AAM industry: the majority of […]
Expansion Includes Partnerships with Panera Bread, Memorial Hermann Health System, and Jet’s Pizza According to a Zipline announcement, the company, known as the world’s largest autonomous delivery system, will today reach a historic milestone by completing its one millionth commercial drone delivery. This achievement marks Zipline as the first company globally to reach such a […]
A Ukrainian Shark reconnaissance drone resembling a small aircraft flies out over Russian lines, transmitting a stream of high-definition video. The drone searches for valuable targets like ammunition depots, air defense sites and artillery positions deep inside occupied territory. The Russians respond with electronic warfare, throwing up a wall of radio noise impenetrable to most drones. […]
Red Cat Holdings, Inc. , a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations, has announced a partnership with Sentien Robotics, a leader in autonomous drone fleet logistics. The partnership will enable organizations using Sentien’s Hive UAS management platforms to deploy Teal Drones as part of a larger autonomous drone […]
With less than 100 days to go before Paris hosts the 2024 Olympics, which organisers plan to open with an elaborate waterborne ceremony on the Seine river, concerns are mounting about the efficiency of the anti-drone shield meant to protect the French capital from a potential terror attack. According to several security sources, recent tests […]
