Zipline makes 1,000,000 commercial autonomous drone deliveries

Zipline, the world’s largest autonomous delivery system, today became 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 million commercial autonomous miles across four continents and delivered more than 10 million products. Demand for Zipline’s service is growing too. Announced today, Zipline’s Platform 2 (P2) system will also be used to deliver orders from Panera Bread, Memorial Hermann Health System and Jet’s Pizza starting in the greater Seattle, Houston, and Detroit metro areas respectively. 

Zipline has made 70% of its deliveries in the last two years alone as the company expanded to serve new use cases like retail deliveries with Walmart, agriculture and animal health efforts across Africa, and food delivery in Japan. In the U.S., Zipline’s most frequently delivered items are fresh produce, while internationally they are child nutrition and vaccines. 

“Over the past decade, we’ve worked hard to build a system that scaled to 1 million paid customer deliveries. In the near future, I believe that 1 million deliveries will be unremarkable as we reach a million deliveries in a year, in a month, in a day,” said Ryan Oksenhorn, Co-Founder of Zipline and Head of Software. “10 years from now, I think clean, reliable autonomous delivery of goods and services will be available to everyone.”

Zipline is now scaling in the U.S. thanks to recent regulatory approvals of its on-board perception system for “beyond visual line of sight” commercial delivery operations. In the coming quarters Zipline will begin rolling out P2, which is expected to serve more than 30 million people in 10 states within the United States over the next few years. Innovative companies across sectors are choosing P2 to make fast, convenient, zero-emission deliveries directly to people’s homes, including:

Flynn Group, the largest franchise operator in the world, will use Zipline to deliver from its select properties of Panera Bread in the greater Seattle metro area. Panera customers will place orders for Zipline delivery directly through Zipline’s app and get their orders delivered quickly and conveniently by drone to their homes. “We’re excited to take the guest experience we provide at our Panera Bread restaurants to new heights, literally, thanks to our partnership with Zipline,” said Greg Flynn, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Flynn Group. “Delivery delays, especially in metro-areas like Seattle, are unpredictable; however, utilizing Zipline’s state-of-the-art drone technology, we’re addressing those challenges and significantly reducing the wait times from when orders are placed, to when guests can enjoy them.”

Memorial Hermann Health System, one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in Texas, 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. “As a system, we are continuously seeking ways to improve the patient experience and bring greater health and value to the communities we serve,” said Alec King, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Memorial Hermann. “Zipline provides an innovative solution to helping our patients access the medications they need, quickly and conveniently, at no added cost to them.” The companies are working together on all necessary regulatory approvals.

Jet’s Pizza, with more than 400 locations across 22 states, will begin using Zipline to deliver orders starting in its home of Detroit. Each Zipline P2 drone is capable of delivering two large Detroit-style pizzas along with sides. “Having the best pizza in the world doesn’t matter if it doesn’t arrive fresh from the oven. Zipline will let us expand our delivery area to bring great, hot food to even more of our loyal customers,” said John Jetts, CEO of Jet’s Pizza. “With Zipline, customers will get a magical and consistent end-to-end Jet’s experience regardless of traffic or weather.”

About 4 billion instant deliveries happen each year in the U.S. and this expansion comes at a time when more people are looking for consistent, convenient delivery options. Meal deliveries in the United States alone have grown by more than 350% since 2019.¹ Zipline’s customers highlight the magic of saving time with Zipline: “I’m a busy mom and so I’ve used Zipline for getting snacks on the fly, if I forget an ingredient, or to cook dinner,” said one customer.

Zipline is the first and only drone delivery service operating at this scale in multiple countries and making a commercial delivery every 70 seconds. The company has flown the longest fully autonomous drone delivery flights in the U.S. without visual observers (41 miles) and regularly flies the longest autonomous distance drone delivery flights in the world without visual observers (130 miles). 

Every Zipline delivery is made using electric, zero-emission drones that have collectively saved more than 750,000 gallons of gas compared to making the same deliveries with cars.

The Zipline 2023 Impact Report shows how the system has helped lower maternal mortality rates, provide faster access to vaccines, and improve patient outcomes around the world.