Zipline

The Zip hovers at roughly 300 feet while a small delivery droid descends on a tether, using a downward camera and thrusters to correct for wind and place the order within about a 3-foot target, then reels back up. The aircraft never lands. The system carries up to 8 pounds, covers a 10-mile radius, and cruises at up to 70 mph.

Each aircraft performs more than 500 safety checks per second and can cancel a delivery, return to base, or deploy an emergency parachute with an audible alert. Zipline has flown well over 120 million commercial autonomous miles and completed more than 2 million deliveries since 2016 without a serious injury.

Its densest market is Dallas-Fort Worth, where it reached 17 Walmart locations by December 2025. Houston launched in April 2026 and Austin is next in Texas. Cleveland Clinic runs a prescription program in Beachwood, Ohio, and Zipline has named Phoenix and Seattle among its 2026 expansion markets.

In the Texas network, the published delivery fee has been $0.99 plus a 20% service fee capped at $6. CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton has argued a Zipline flight can cost about $1 at scale, versus roughly $9 to $11 for traditional ground delivery. Cleveland Clinic's prescription service adds no extra cost for patients.

It delivers 75% of Rwanda's blood supply outside Kigali to more than 800 health facilities, and University of Pennsylvania research found an 88% reduction in maternal deaths from postpartum hemorrhage at supported facilities. A $150 million US State Department award is funding expansion across five African countries.

Yes. Zipline flew the first US BVLOS drone delivery in November 2023 in Salt Lake City, using an onboard acoustic detect-and-avoid system that hears aircraft up to two miles away. Following the June 2025 drone Executive Order, it became the first company permitted to fly BVLOS commercially in all 50 states.