Zipline, reputedly the world’s leader in remote medical supply delivery by drone,, has added an entirely new wrinkle to its operations:  “instant delivery.”

The Silicon Valley-based UAV company has been delivering vaccines, plasma supplies and bandages to villagers in rural Rwanda since 2016 and in Ghana and other African countries since 2020.  It’s about to add responsibility for supply deliveries in the capital of Kigali.  And that’s just Africa.  Zipline is also operating in Japan and in select rural areas in the United States, most notably in small isolated towns in North Carolina and in difficult-to-reach high altitude areas outside Salt Lake City, Utah.   The company claims its flights have clocked over 40 million autonomous miles over the past seven years, which is about 80 times the distance. of a trip to the moon and back.

But until now, all of those drones flights have been to designated landing sites – a hilltop, an open field or to a clearing in a forest – for a pick-up by a vehicle that carries the bulk supplies to their final destinations.  That’s about to change, Zipline says.  For the first time, the company plans to make direct deliveries to private homes – literally to their doorstep, if need be.

The shift to instant delivery will also require a change in Zipline’s delivery system.  In the past, Zipline was one of the few UAV firms to utilize fixed-wing drones to carry out its remote package deliveries.  Its drones were able to fly at high speeds above large drop zones at 80-100 feet and could release their cargo to the ground, using a precision-guided parachute.   But in the new system, drones will hover in place over a drop zone at much higher altitudes – in fact, as high as 400 feet, the current FAA regulatory limit – and slowly lower their packages to the ground on a tether.  Deliveries can be targeted more precisely to the individual consumer, company officials say.

In an interview with CNN last week, Zipline CEO Rinaudo Clifton claimed his new drones will deliver packages seven times faster than electric road vehicles while also substantially reducing carbon emissions.  Zipline drones also promise to be the quietest package delivery drones currently on the market, thanks in part to their high altitude flying, which keeps propeller noise at a distance but also to Zipline’s patented propeller design which naturally reduces noise emissions even at lower altitudes.

Zipline’s promotional videos claim that the company’s instant delivery system – which, in theory, eliminates the need for road vehicle support altogether – could lead to a revolution in drone “last mile” logistics.  That remains to be seen.  But the company’s track record to date is unparalleled.  When Zipline started in Rwanda seven years ago, the company made supply deliveries to just 21 rural hospitals.  Today, that figure is 3,400.  By the end of year, if current plans hold, Zipline will reach more than 10,000 hospitals not just in Africa, but across the world.  No other remote delivery company can claim a comparable record of service and performance.

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