The drone delivery company Zipline has spent the last decade proving its technology worldwide, and it’s now starting to make an impact in the US. The Verge reports that the brand has begun delivering food and other goods in Texas, and locals have found the service less intrusive than one might expect.
Before this, Zipline showcased its drone delivery capabilities across Africa, delivering much-needed supplies to hard-to-reach places. Its P1 drone system can travel 190 miles round-trip and carry up to 4 pounds of cargo. The newer P2 drones being used in Texas, however, are very different.
The P2 system is less efficient than its predecessor, using five motors and less fixed-wing surface area for just a 24-mile round-trip range. But it’s overall a more sophisticated system. It has a drone buddy on a little wire that, when it reaches its destination, lowers packages safely and gently. This makes it easier to deliver packages and cargo to urban areas with smaller delivery zones.
“Generally speaking, compared to some things that we picture in our community, there was not as much opposition as you might expect,” Rowlett, TX Mayor Jeff Winget told The Verge. “I think most people were really pretty excited about it.”
The Verge reports that in person, the drones are impressively quiet and accurate. In a test delivery, they found that a burrito was much warmer after a quick drone delivery than it would typically have been from a traditional human courier system.
The delivery was cheap too, at just $0.99, plus a 20% service fee (capped at $6). There’s no need to tip, either. At the time of writing, Zipline is contracted to deliver for local outlets of Blaze Pizza, Buffalo Wild Wings, Crumbl, Little Caesars, Walmart, and Wendy’s.
Other drone delivery firms like Alphabet’s Wing are looking to compete in this space, and though Amazon recently paused its drone delivery program (Amazon Prime Air) after some crashes, it too is pursuing the technology.
It looks like after a decade of delays, drone deliveries might finally become a reality for a wider portion of the global population in 2026 and beyond.
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