Uber Eats and Zipline are bringing fast drone delivery for food and groceries straight to your door in just 5 to 10 minutes.
Uber Eats is teaming up with a famous drone company called Zipline to bring meals straight to people’s doorsteps using small flying aircraft.
This big announcement means that instead of waiting for a driver in a car or on a motorbike, a flying robot will bring hot food, fresh groceries, and daily essentials directly from local stores in just five to ten minutes.
This new service will start later this year in select parts of the United States, launching first in areas where Zipline already operates before expanding to dozens of other cities across the country.
Uber is also putting a large sum of money directly into Zipline to help build up the flying network, with both companies aiming to complete one million drone drop offs every single day by the end of 2029.
The chief executive officer of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, shared why this big move is happening, stating that “Zipline has built incredible technology, and Uber connects many millions of people with local merchants every day”.
He went on to say, “Together, we’re shaping the future of delivery by creating a faster, more sustainable way for people to get what they need. We look forward to bringing this technology to more communities and making autonomous delivery part of everyday life”.
Zipline is not new to this kind of flying work. Over the last decade, the company built up massive experience by delivering blood, medicines, and medical supplies to more than 5,000 hospitals and clinics across Africa and other parts of the world.
In countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Kenya, Zipline’s flying machines have flown millions of miles to drop vital care packages directly to doctors and healthcare workers in emergency situations.
However, reports from Technext point out that even though Zipline has deep roots in Africa, this new Uber Eats food service will not be available in African countries right away.
While places like Kenya already have both Uber Eats drivers on the ground and Zipline medicine drones in the sky, the companies are focusing their first food by air service entirely on American communities.
The co-founder of Zipline, Keller Cliffton, spoke about how simple this flying delivery idea will make life for everyday people, stating that “Teleportation isn’t science fiction anymore”.
He explained that “Together with Uber, we’re taking the next step toward building a world where getting what you need is as fast and effortless as sending a text, no matter where you are”.
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Uber explained that drones will not replace regular drivers completely. Instead, Uber wants to combine human drivers, small sidewalk robots, and flying drones into one large system.
Depending on how far away a restaurant is, how heavy the package weighs, or how bad traffic is on the road, Uber’s system will automatically choose whether a driver on a bike or a drone in the air is the best option to get the package to the buyer quickly.
Using drones helps keep food hotter, cuts down on dirty exhaust smoke from road vehicles, and keeps roads less crowded for everyone else.
As the companies work to build out their flying routes, ordering dinner on an app might soon feel as simple as looking up at the sky and watching a small package float down safely into your front yard.
