Zipline Unveils NextGen Platform 2 Autonomous Delivery System

Zipline (March 15, 2023) unveiled its Next-Generation Platform 2 – P2 Zip – to offer a faster, quieter, and higher precision autonomous home delivery experience.

The Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Keenan Wyrobek, revealed during the Zipline Keynote 2023 event, “This new experience is enabled by a new platform with a unique two-part architecture, the Zip itself and a Delivery Droid. The Zip has wings to fly fast and far, and it can also hover in place when it gets to its delivery destination. While the Zip is hovering, the Delivery Droid lowers to drop off the package, and it’s the Droid that enables deliveries to land exactly where you want them.“

The Platform 2 (P2) is expected to deliver up to 7 times as fast as traditional automobile delivery, completing 10-mile deliveries in about 10 minutes. Each P2 Zip has a 10-mile service radius while carrying a 6-8 pound payload for out-and-back deliveries from a single dock. Alternatively, it can fly up to 24 miles – one way from dock-to-dock, charging at each dock before picking up its next delivery.

According to Zipline, the first customer deployment of P2 will commence after completion of high-volume flight tests in 2023 involving over 10,000 test flights using about 100 aircraft. The Government of Rwanda was listed among the few of the first customers set to utilise Zipline’s Platform 2 (P2) for urban aerial last-mile delivery to homes, hotels, and health facilities in Kigali and other parts of the country.