Inside Zipline's Autonomous System: 140M Miles, Zero Incidents
The largest commercial autonomous system on earth isn't a robotaxi fleet — it's Zipline, which has flown 140 million autonomous miles with zero safety incidents. Co-founder Keller Rinaudo Cliffton and Eric Watson, who leads systems engineering and safety, explain why the drone itself is only 15% of the solution. The rest spans inventory management, air traffic integration, and engineering systems such as a dual flight computer failover protocol that recently saved a delivery mid-flight. They trace Zipline's path from launching blood delivery in Rwanda in 2016 (when drone delivery was illegal in the US) to a 51% reduction in maternal mortality in that country, a $550 million commercial diplomacy partnership with the State Department, and a cost curve that fell from $300 per delivery to $12. Zipline is now racing toward a million deliveries a day, and a quiet inflection point when autonomous delivery becomes cheaper than sending a car.
Hosted by Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital
Science Corner Special: David Friedberg, Cleo Abram, Alex Filippenko, and Keller Rinaudo Cliffton
(0:00) Introducing Cleo Abram
(1:12) Why YouTube has become the best platform for creators, techno-optimism at Huge If True
(8:35) Astrophysicist Alex Filippenko on the James Webb Space Telescope
(23:14) Q&A with Alex Filippenko, Cleo, and Friedberg: The universe, Fermi Paradox, black holes, NIH grants and the "war on science"
(37:37) Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton on the future of drone delivery
(53:29) Q&A with Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Cleo, and Friedberg: Instant delivery explosion, competitors, impact on healthcare
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Delivering the future in drones with Keller Rinaudo Cliffton of Zipline
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton thinks we’re already experiencing the technology of tomorrow, just that it’s not evenly distributed...
About a decade ago, Keller transformed his smartphone robot company into Zipline, which today orchestrates on-demand drone deliveries all over the world. Zipline got its start delivering critical medical supplies to hospitals in Rwanda: a testament to Keller’s belief that innovation is already improving lives outside the U.S.
This week on How I Built This Lab, Keller recounts the ongoing and often challenging development of Zipline’s delivery drones. Plus, how Zipline is now chasing the commercial market, and could soon be delivering packages from stores like Walmart within an hour of a customer clicking “purchase.”
This episode was produced by Carla Esteves and edited by John Isabella, with music by Ramtin Arablouei. Our audio engineer was Josh Newell.
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Founder Stories: What’s behind the largest commercial autonomous system on earth? With Zipline’s Keller Rinaudo Cliffton
This is a special bonus episode from our Founder Stories series, where entrepreneurs share the story of their startup journey.
A delivery with Zipline is the closest thing we have to teleportation. It sounds like science fiction, but Zipline delivers life saving medical supplies such as blood and vaccines to hospitals, doctors and people in need around the world with the world's largest autonomous drone network.
This week on the podcast, Sarah Guo talks to Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, the co-founder and CEO of Zipline, about building a full-stack business that involves software, hardware and operations, how a culture of ruthless engineering practicality enabled them to do unlikely things, the state of autopilot in aircraft, their AI acoustic detect-and-avoid system, and why founders should build for users beyond the "golden billion."
Show Links:
Zipline's website
Video: Drone Delivery Start-Up Zipline Beats Amazon, UPS And FedEx To The Punch | CNBC
Keller Rinaudo: How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives | TED Talk
Meet Romotive: An Ambitious Startup That Blew Our Minds
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Show Notes:
[2:07] - Keller’s earlier projects and early inspiration for Zipline and transforming logistics
[7:40] - Why Zipline focused on healthcare logistics and Zipline’s early near death experiences as a company
[15:32] - How Zipline iterated on the hardware while being ruthlessly practical with getting products in the customers’ hands
[21:52] - The difference between AI and Autopilot
[25:51] - How Zipline developed AI acoustic-based detect and avoid system
[31:30] - Zipline’s partnership with Rwanda’s public health system
[34:25] - Challenges in the business model
