San Francisco-based startup Zipline has taken to North Carolina to launch a first-of-its-kind drone program that will help deliver medical supplies and PPE to local hospitals.
Zipline originally began testing its drone program overseas in 2016. The company delivered medical supplies in Rwanda and later went on to deliver blood and vaccines to hospitals in Ghana. Now, the startup has brought its operations stateside for the first time. The company has partnered with Charlotte-based Novant Health to deliver valuable medical supplies to nearby local hospitals that are rushing to address the needs of COVID-19 patients.
“We’re likely in for a long-term fight against COVID-19. Using contactless drone logistics will be an important tool in that effort. The work underway here in North Carolina will provide the rest of the country with a blueprint for how to build the most resilient and responsive health care system possible,” Keller Rinaudo, CEO of Zipline, said in a statement.
The Federal Aviation Administration granted the company a Part 107 waiver, which allows the company to fly unmanned aircraft outside the point of view of on-ground aircraft operators, for two routes so far.
According to Zipline, typical drone flights in the United States range between 500 feet to a mile and a half in distance. Zipline’s aircraft have the ability to fly over 100 miles, which will allow the company to deliver supplies to more than 30 different Novant Health facilities, pending FAA approval for additional routes.
“Up until now, the FAA has sought to keep drone delivery efforts away from airports due to operations concerns around other drones’ ability to successfully navigate a more complex environment,” a spokesperson for Zipline said in an email to Built In.
According to Zipline, the decision by the FAA marks the first time unmanned aircraft will be allowed to fly through airspace typically reserved for commercial air travel. The drones use battery-operated propellers and cruise at about 80 mph. Each drone can carry up to four pounds worth of supplies to its destination.
“Hopefully, this project and ones like it can help ease the strain on our medical supply chains,” Eric Boyette, North Carolina secretary of transportation, said in a statement. “We’re living through an unprecedented situation, and we’re going to need innovative solutions like this to get us through it.”
Over the course of the next two years, Zipline and Novant Health plan to expand their delivery operations beyond North Carolina to include additional hospitals in South Carolina and Virginia, the company told TechCrunch. Program growth will be dependent upon regulatory approval.
“[COVID-19] is already hitting rural areas hard, where we have a perfect storm of high numbers of people with preexisting conditions living in areas with a high rate of hospital closures, no ICUs and major healthcare access challenges,” a company spokesperson said in an email to Built In.
Zipline is aiming to be in a position to help cover vulnerable populations across the U.S. by the time a COVID-19 vaccine is ready.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has tasked us with being even more nimble and innovative in how we solve complex challenges. Fast-tracking our medical drone transport capability is just one example of how we’re pioneering in the healthcare industry,” Angela Yochem, executive vice president of Novant Health, said in a statement.
The Novant Health network consists of more than 1,600 physicians that provide care at nearly 700 different locations.
