Uber and Zipline target 1m daily drone deliveries by 2029

Uber Technologies and drone delivery company Zipline have announced a partnership to expand autonomous drone delivery across the United States, with the companies targeting one million drone deliveries per day by the end of 2029.

The first deployments will begin later this year, with Uber Eats customers able to receive orders through Zipline’s autonomous drones. The service will initially launch in markets where Zipline already operates, including Dallas and Houston, and will expand to new locations as Zipline adds services.

The companies plan to make drone delivery available to millions of Uber customers through the Uber Eats app. Customers will be able to order meals, snacks and other items for delivery by Zipline drones within minutes.

Uber will also make a strategic investment in Zipline as part of the partnership. The companies said the investment will support the expansion of drone delivery and their long-term partnership.

Zipline said the US delivery market handles around 5.5 billion deliveries each year, with most deliveries currently made using cars. The company said its partnership with Uber will help expand drone delivery as it scales its operations across the country.

Zipline has spent 10 years building an international logistics network that serves more than 5,000 hospitals and saves more than 12,000 lives each year. It operates across four continents and makes a delivery every 20 seconds.

The company has completed more than 2.7 million deliveries involving more than 20 million items and has flown more than 135 million autonomous miles. Zipline said each of its drone flights has zero emissions.

The company plans to expand its operations to major US cities over the next several years. It said restaurants across the country will be able to use its drone delivery service as the network expands.

Uber is building a hybrid delivery network that combines couriers, sidewalk robots and drones. Through the partnership, the companies aim to combine Uber’s delivery platform with Zipline’s autonomous drone technology.

The companies said Zipline’s drones will offer quiet, fast and precise delivery to millions of Uber Eats customers and hundreds of thousands of small businesses.

“Zipline has built incredible technology, and Uber connects many millions of people with local merchants every day,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber.

“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,” he said.

Keller Cliffton, Co-founder and CEO of Zipline, said the partnership would support the company’s expansion across the US.

“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,” Cliffton said.

The Uber partnership comes as Zipline expands its US drone delivery network. In July, the company said the number of businesses offering delivery through its app had grown 13-fold in the first half of 2026. Zipline had also completed more than 2.5 million commercial deliveries, including one million in the previous 12 months. The company was preparing to launch healthcare deliveries in Cleveland and food and retail deliveries in Austin.

The partnership also follows Zipline’s earlier move into drone-based food delivery. In June, Wonder, a food delivery company that operates its own restaurants and technology-enabled kitchens, partnered with Zipline to introduce on-demand drone delivery at its locations across Texas. The service is scheduled to begin in January 2027, with Dallas planned as the first city. Wonder is preparing new storefronts, kitchen infrastructure, logistics and ordering technology as it expands in Texas, and expects drone delivery to be available at most of its Texas locations by the end of 2027. The partnership is aimed at using drones to deliver meals faster and extend food delivery to more communities.

Zipline said its technology can deliver items in five to 10 minutes. The company said drone delivery could reduce delivery times, costs and emissions compared with traditional delivery methods, while allowing food and daily essentials to reach customers within minutes.