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Zipline (drone delivery company)

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For other uses of "Zipline", see Zipline (disambiguation).
Zipline International
FormerlyRomotive
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryLogistics
GenreDelivery drone
Founded2011[1]
FoundersKeller Rinaudo[2] (CEO)

Keenan Wyrobek[3]

William Hetzler
HeadquartersHalf Moon Bay, California,
America
Area served
Rwanda
Number of employees
150–500[citation needed]
Websiteflyzipline.com

Zipline International is an American medical product delivery company headquartered in Half Moon Bay, California, that designs, builds, and operates small drone aircraft.

The company operates two distribution centers in Rwanda[4][5] and as of December 2018 has a contract in place to operate another four in Ghana.[6] It primarily delivers blood to urgent medical situations,[7] but also delivers platelets, fresh frozen plasma, and cryoprecipitate.[8]

History

The company was originally founded in 2011 as Romotive, by Keller Rinaudo, Keenan Wyrobek and William Hetzler, after they graduated from Harvard University. The first business venture produced an iPhone-controlled robotic pet toy called Romo. The company refocused on delivering medical supplies using automated drones in 2014[7] and Romotive was shut down.[9][10]

In 2016, the company signed a deal with the Rwandan government, allowing the construction of a distribution center near Muhanga.[7]

In May 2019 Zipline raised $190 million and reached total valuation of $1 billion.[11]

Finances

Private investors in Zipline include: Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Zappos' Alfred Lin[12], Stanford University[1][13], The UPS Foundation, GAVI, a vaccine alliance[14]Sequoia Capital, Katalyst Ventures, a16z, Google Ventures, SV Angel, and Subtraction Capital.[15]

The cost of delivery via drone is comparable to conventional means by road especially in the cases of emergencies. This is largely due to the poor infrastructure conditions in Rwanda even though Rwanda is densely populated with a small landmass.[14] The Rwandan government also modified aviation regulations. [14]

Operations

The company's drones are designed and built in-house within the company.[16]

Medical staff at a clinic send an order via SMS, WhatsApp message or a dedicated Zipline website and a confirmation message is returned. [17]

Zipline deliver medical supplies through a fleet of autonomous drones called Zips, which operate from bases called Nests which houses 15 Zips. A drone weighs approximately 10 kg, carries a payload of up to 1.5 kg, and has a range of over 120 km round trip. Zips can deliver medical supplies countrywide upon request in under an hour. Deliveries are made via airdrop from the drone into a designated drop zone. The drones launch from a nest via a catapult (assisted take-off), and return to the Nest by latching onto a wire system (arresting gear).[18]

In order to navigate, flight paths are selected and then programmed using information from a 3-D satellite map as well as manual ground surveys.[7] A technician monitors the flights in progress to deliver essential medical products feeding location data to the country's main air traffic control system.[19] During flight, the location data is additionally sent to the country's main air traffic control system[19] so as to give integration with commercial airliners.

An inertial navigation system allows the drones to land a payload within a landing zone five meters in diameter.[7] During the delivery the plane does not land, instead it drops to a low height and the package drops to the ground slowed by a parachute-like air brake, as well as not requiring specialised equipment or space and the destination it also means the most complex parts of the journey (the takeoff and landing) happen at Zipline's site.

Drone launching into flight

Rwanda operations

Whole blood was a logical first product for Zipline to deliver with a short shelf life of only 42 days, multiple different blood types, requires special storage solutions and timeliness of delivery in emergencies. Costs will be reduced by supply chain optimization, waste minimization, and increased number of flights.[7]

Rwanda has a mountainous geography and poor road conditions making an aerial delivery system more efficient,[20].

On December 21, 2016, a two-year old child, Ghislane Ihimbazwe, became the first person whose life was deemed to have been saved by a Zipline drone delivery. She had received an emergency delivery of two units of blood.[4]

As of May 2018 the company has delivered over 7000 units of blood by drone,[21] in the first phase that covered 21 hospitals. Phase 2 is added[22] a second drone launching site in Kayonza in the eastern part of the country and brings coverage to 80% of the country.[23]

In Spring 2019, they had made 11,000 blood deliveries[24] and every week flies the distance equivalent once around the equator of the Earth[25]

Ghana Operations

April 2019, Ziplines first distribution center was opened in Ghana by the country's president.In the first half of the year, they plan to expand to cover most of the country's population.[26]

Next generation drones

In 2018, the company launched a new drone (at the time the world's fastest commercial delivery drone) as part of a redesign of its logistics systems[27].

This enabled them to make 500 deliveries per day at each launching center.[4]

On April 3, 2018, Zipline announced their next generation drone named the Zip 2. The new drone is capable of flying at a speed of up to 128 kilometres per hour (80 mph), and a cruising speed of 101 kilometres per hour (63 mph). The new drone is 21 kilometres per hour (13 mph) faster than Zip1 and has a range of 160 kilometres (99 mi) round trip and carries up to 1.75 kilograms (3.9 lb) of cargo. The new drone is part of a complete redesign of the company's logistics system, which aims to dramatically improve capabilities and decrease the amount of time between receiving an order and the launch of a fulfillment flight from 10 minutes to 1, and also increase the number of daily Zipline flights from the distribution center from 50 to 500[citation needed] and also dramatically expanding the radius each distribution center could serve.[citation needed]

Physically, the new drone has a dual prop located centreline of the fuselage, improving its reliability as the drone can function with one propeller, a smaller tailhook as opposed to a deployed one with moving mechanisms, improved navigation featuring flight plans stored onboard on SIM cards, and a more streamlined battery that is easily slotted into place and charges more quickly, enabling more flights per day.[28] While the older drone used a rigid carbon-composite skin the new generation of drones has a frame constructed out of carbon-fiber and an outer shell made of styrofoam.[28] The wing span was widened and has a length of 10 feet (3.0 m).[citation needed] to enable the drone to fly faster and farther while carrying a larger cargo. The Zip 2 at launch can also accelerate from 0–70 miles per hour (110 km/h) in a quarter of a second.[28]

The Zip 2 was awarded a place in Time's "Best inventions of 2018" list.[29]

Expansion into the United States

The company is working with the United States Federal Aviation Administration to draw up new nationwide regulations for drone flight deliveries in the US.[30] A key part of this is development of guidelines for the operation of drones beyond the visual line of sight when over populated areas.[31]

Zipline is establishing a site in Reno, Nevada, to service seven hospitals and possibly up to forty. "Rural healthcare is a challenge in every country in the world including in the United States," said Rinaudo. "You now see much bigger and wealthier countries like the U.S. actually using Rwanda as a role model."[31]

Drones are a viable way of providing medical logistics in rural areas of the U.S. where health is poorer than the rest of the country and access more limited with many rural providers already struggling with a negative operating margin. Drones can substantially cut cost for delivering supplies and be faster and more reliable than traditional motor vehicle means.[32]

References

  1. ^ a b Petrova, Magdalena; Kolodny, Lora (April 3, 2018). "Zipline's new drone can deliver medical supplies at 79 miles per hour". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  2. ^ Rinaudo, Keller, "How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives", TED, retrieved 2018-10-14
  3. ^ Wyrobek, Kennan. "Engineering a new mission for drones". TEDMED. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  4. ^ a b c Baker, Aryn. "The American Drones Saving Lives in Rwanda". Time. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
  5. ^ Ackerman, Evan; Koziol, Michael (April 30, 2019). "In the Air with Zipline's Medical Delivery Drones". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  6. ^ "Ghana Health Service gives full details of drone health service delivery system". www.ghanaweb.com. December 5, 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rosen, Jonathan W. (June 8, 2017). "Zipline's Ambitious Medical Drone Delivery in Africa". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  8. ^ Ezell, Stephen (August 7, 2017). "Zipline Enables Real-time Delivery of Essential Medical Supplies in Rwanda". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ "Why Romotive shut down". Simplebotics. February 8, 2016. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
  10. ^ "Zipline International". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2018-12-05. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  11. ^ "Zipline's new $190 million funding means it's the newest billion dollar contender in the game of drones". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  12. ^ "Drone startup backed by Allen, Yang to deliver medical supplies in Rwanda". 2016.
  13. ^ "Zipline International: Drones to the rescue". Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  14. ^ a b c "When Technology Gets Ahead of Society". Harvard Business Review. 2018-07-01. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  15. ^ "Zipline Launches Fastest Delivery Drone in the World" (PDF). Zipline (official website). {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |website= (help)
  16. ^ "Using drones to build the ambulance fleet of the future". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  17. ^ Murphy, Mike (August 24, 2017). "If you want to see how delivery drones should work, look at Africa". Quartz Africa. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  18. ^ "Zipline drones airdrop medical supplies to African villages", TechCrunch, 2016-10-13, retrieved 2018-08-24
  19. ^ a b Simmons, Dan (October 14, 2016). "Rwanda starts commercial drone deliveries". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
  20. ^ "2018 Disruptor 50: No. 25 Zipline International". CNBC. May 22, 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-12. (Updated May 9, 2019.)
  21. ^ Margaritoff, Marco. "Zipline Has Successfully Aerially Delivered 7,000 Units of Blood to Rwandan Hospitals". The Drive. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  22. ^ Wyrobek, Keenan [@keenanwyrobek] (March 7, 2019). "Just leaving @zipline Kayonza. Such excellence" (Tweet). Retrieved 2019-03-08 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ Okertchiri, Jamila Akweley. "From Muhanga To The Rest Of Rwanda; How Zipline Is Providing Smarter Blood Distribution Service". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  24. ^ Zipline (2019-02-28). "We're hours away from our 11,000th lifesaving delivery to real patients". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-03-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  25. ^ "Life-saving Medical Drone Delivery Startup Zipline Expands to Ghana, Plans U.S. Operation". Cheddar. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  26. ^ Drone & Sundry (2019-04-29), Zipline creates the worlds largest drone delivery service in Ghana, retrieved 2019-04-29
  27. ^ Giles, Martin. "Zipline launches the world's fastest commercial delivery drone". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  28. ^ a b c Lydgate, Anthony (September 18, 2018). "How Zipline Helps Remote Regions Get Blood From a Drone". Wired. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  29. ^ Baker, Aryn (December 3, 2018). "Zipline Made One of TIME's Best Inventions of 2018". Time. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  30. ^ "Blood delivery drone applies for US trial". BBC News. 2018-04-03. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  31. ^ a b "The World's Fastest Drones Want to Save Lives in the US, Too". Wired. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  32. ^ "These Medical Delivery Drones Could Soon Be Supplying U.S. Hospitals". Fast Company. April 13, 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
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