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Zipline delivers for Walmart Drone Supply Launches

Zipline delivers for Walmart: Instant Delivery Service starts

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Walmart and Zipline today announced the launch of their new instant delivery service in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, where the service will deliver on demand selected health and wellness and consumables from the Walmart neighborhood market.

“Zipline’s autonomous aircraft are an incredible opportunity to offer customers an on-demand delivery option for the items they need now, such as a thermometer, over-the-counter medicine or an emergency diaper pack,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president, Last Mile Delivery, Walmart US “Zipline’s aircraft can do even more to ensure that hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations, such as rural communities and the elderly, have instant access to the items they need. By bringing this breakthrough technology to the rural community of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, we continue to seek ways to make shopping at Walmart convenient and easy – for everyone. “

Zipline supplies for Walmart

Following the service’s initial announcement last fall, Walmart and Zipline worked together to build a unique 25-foot platform that will serve as take-off and landing infrastructure. The platform is right behind the Neighborhood Market and is home to several of Zipline’s autonomous planes as well as flight operations personnel. Zipline’s aircraft are capable of covering a radius of 50 miles at full capacity.

Starting today, eligible customers can place orders by ordering using the Zipline app.

A Walmart employee then hands the packaged product to Zipline’s staff, who prepare the aircraft for takeoff. The aircraft then flies to the customer’s home, where it drops off the package and returns to the platform. The delivery status can be tracked via the zipline app.

“We saw firsthand the impact immediate logistics can have in making important, even life-saving products available at short notice,” said Keller Rinaudo, Co-Founder and CEO of Zipline. “At the same time, the past two years have demonstrated the need to bring health products closer to the home, where they are more easily accessible. Working with Walmart, we can bring this type of service to Northwest Arkansas and show what the future of health access looks like. “

“Just two weeks after Walmart launched its autonomous truck delivery system in northwest Arkansas, the company is starting its autonomous aircraft service,” said Governor Asa Hutchinson. “Walmart and its partners like Zipline are using customer-friendly technology at such a rate that the future is becoming a reality much sooner than many Arcansan would have thought possible.”

Zipline was first put into operation in 2016. Since then, the company has made more than 200,000 commercial deliveries of over 4.5 million medical supplies and served more than 20 million people in multiple countries.

Read about delivering medical drones via Zipline, funding, responding to COVID-19, and partnering with Walmart.

Ian attended the Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he now contributes to DroneLife.

Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional marketplace for drone services, and a passionate observer of the emerging drone industry and regulatory environment for drones. Author of over 3,000 articles focusing on the commercial drone space, Miriam is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam graduated from the University of Chicago and has over 20 years experience in high-tech sales and marketing for emerging technologies.
For advice or writing on the drone industry, email Miriam.

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