8 Sep
After hundreds of thousands of test flights and years of U.S. trials, Zipline has launched its futuristic drone delivery with Walmart in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. Residents within two miles of the Mesquite Supercenter can choose from 65,000+ items delivered in 30 minutes or less. Powered by the new Platform 2 (P2), the service is designed for quiet, precise urban drops—even in rain or 45-mph gusts. Early users call it “quiet,” “gentle,” and “magical.” A video in this piece shows the system in action.
P2 pairs a VTOL drone (8-lb payload, ~10-sq-mile service radius) with a tiny autonomous “Zip” lowered on a tether to place packages with dinner-plate accuracy at doorsteps and apartment buildings. Zipline says most flights take under two minutes and are up to ten times faster than car delivery. Customers order via the Zipline app during operating hours; a public demo is planned at the Mesquite Supercenter.
Zipline isn’t new to critical logistics: since 2016 it has flown more than 100 million miles and completed nearly 1.5 million deliveries, largely for medical supplies in Africa, and now partners with major U.S. health systems. With Walmart, home delivery in Mesquite signals a new era of robotic, near-instant logistics—what the CEO likens to “teleportation.”
Stay up-to-date with our latest news – > REGISTER HERE
source: freightwaves.com
