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Walmart and Zipline are launching a delivery service in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, which is the first commercial drone delivery service in the US. Customers will be able to choose from thousands of products, though they are restricted to health and wellness items.
There is still belief in the potential of drones to perform commercial deliveries. There are plenty of questions to be answered if drones are to become commonplace for regular consumers, as shown by the lack of large-scale implementations and the slow rate of adoption.
Vaccines make sense for drone deliveries.
In healthcare, Zipline has delivered medical supplies in North Carolina, blood in Rwanda, and COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. The economics of deliveries are better suited to the technology. Vaccines and blood samples are valuable and benefit from swift delivery. Walmart is Zipline's first commercial partner, and it's not clear if the economics of drone delivery are as convincing for customers who want on-demand diapers and non-prescription medication.
Walmart may use drones to fill gaps in its delivery network, particularly in rural communities that aren't well served by traditional infrastructure. Zipline doesn't need roads or highways, and their aircraft make delivery by parachute, avoiding the need for customers to have designated landing zones. This is one of the challenges that has stymied Amazon. Zipline was granted a waiver of certain FAA restrictions on drones earlier this year, which cleared the way for the Walmart partnership.
Pea Ridge residents will need to download the Zipline app to try out the service. They can place an order and pay for their items if they are eligible, though we don't know what that means. Zipline and Walmart will quickly work to expand to additional customers in the broader NWA region, subject to FAA approvals, after the launch of Zipline. It doesn't offer much help. It seems drones are not arriving as fast as they could.
