Zipline, a global logistics company, says it plans to complete about one million deliveries by the end of 2023 with the launch of its new platform that provides quiet, fast and precise autonomous delivery directly to homes in cities and suburbs.
According to the company, with the unveiling of the next-generation home delivery platform, by 2025, Zipline expects to operate more flights annually than most airlines.
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, while speaking at the unveiling of the New Autonomous System recently, said Zipline has spent the last several years building and fine-tuning its next-generation technology, Platform 2 (P2), to provide an optimal customer experience at scale.
Cliffton said that unlike other drone delivery services, Zipline’s drones (Zips) fly more than 300 feet above the ground and are nearly inaudible. When the Zip arrives at its destination, it hovers safely and quietly at that altitude, while its fully autonomous delivery droid maneuvers down a tether, steers to the correct location, and gently drops off its package to areas as small as a patio table or the front steps of a home. This is all made possible through major innovations in aircraft and propeller design
“We have built the closest thing to teleportation ever created – a smooth, ultrafast, convenient, and truly magical autonomous logistics system that serves all people equally, wherever they are,” Cliffton said.
Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, one of the restaurant that have already signed on to use Zipline’s new home delivery service, said the future of delivery is faster, more sustainable and creates broader access, all of which provides improved value for our customers,
He said Sweetgreen is partnering with Zipline to further its mission of connecting people to real food in the U.S., while moving a step closer to its pledge to be carbon-neutral by 2027.
Read also: We didn’t collapse our structure for any party in Enugu – APGA
“By ordering through Zipline’s marketplace, Sweetgreen customers can get their orders using 97 percent less energy than traditional automotive methods.
“We couldn’t be more excited to work with Zipline to complement our delivery strategy. Zipline’s sustainable technology and ability to reach customers quickly, with a great delivery experience, will help us give our customers what they want when they want it,” he said.
Another healthcare sector that has partnered with Zipline on this project is Michigan Medicine which will use Zipline’s new service to more than double the number of prescriptions it fills each year through its in-house pharmacy.
Intermountain Health will use it to deliver prescriptions to patients’ homes in the Salt Lake City metro area. MultiCare Health System plans to use the new platform to expedite diagnostics and deliver prescriptions and medical devices throughout MultiCare’s network of facilities, including hospitals, laboratories and doctors’ offices.
Another Zipline’s first customer, the Government of Rwanda, will use the company’s new home delivery service to enable urban aerial last-mile delivery to homes, hotels and health facilities in Kigali and elsewhere in the country.
Zipline’s end-to-end solution seamlessly integrates with a business’s current operations. That includes its dual-use docking and charging hardware, software that easily works with third-party inventory management and ordering systems, an intuitive app that allows order tracking down to the second, and an autonomy system that has already guided the flight paths of 40 million commercial miles. Zipline designed its docking and charging hardware to have a light footprint that can be attached to any building or set up as a freestanding structure.
Each P2 Zip has a 10-mile service radius while carrying a 6-8 pound payload for out-and-back deliveries from a single dock. Alternatively, it can also fly up to 24 miles one way from dock to dock, charging at each dock before picking up its next delivery. Because Zips can move from dock to dock, Zipline can dynamically respond to peak order times – ensuring there’s enough delivery capacity for an urgent prescription delivery or a busy Friday pizza night or weekday lunch rush.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
