the company’s website, www.flyzipline.com.)
Zipline’s first major project is partnering with the government of Rwanda to use its drones to make last-mile
deliveries of blood to remote transfusing facilities. From
its DCs, Zipline currently delivers about 30 percent of the
national blood supply of Rwanda. The long-term vision for
this project is to be able to swiftly reach each of Rwanda’s
11 million citizens with any essential medical product they
need, regardless of how remote they are.
Rinaudo recently sat down with DC VELOCITY Editorial
Director David Maloney to discuss this exciting venture.
The following is an edited version of their conversation. To
watch the full interview, go to https://www.dcvelocity.com/
dcvtv/news/.
Q What made you decide to zero in on healthcare logistics for Zipline’s first drone deliveries?
AHealthcare logistics was a really good place for us to start for a number of reasons.
First of all, every delivery is potentially saving a human life. Second,
healthcare products are obviously
urgently needed, and logistics is a
really important part of making sure
that doctors have what they need
to treat patients. Plus, the healthcare logistics market itself is a huge
$7 billion market, and it’s one that,
while it functions well in developed
countries, really doesn’t function well
in a lot of other parts of the world.
There is a huge opportunity to both
push the industry forward and also
save lives.
Q Why was Rwanda chosen?
A We wanted to find a country that was small enough that we could get to national scale quickly and had a government that was making active investments in technology and
healthcare for its citizens. Rwanda really fit that bill. So, in
partnership with Rwanda’s administrative health [minis-try], we’ve been able to turn Rwanda into the first country
to achieve universal healthcare access for all. They have
been able to put every single one of their citizens within a
15- to 25-minute delivery of any essential medical product.
Q Your drones sometimes have to fly over populated areas to reach patients in remote locations. Some people have questioned the safety of drones flying over people.
Is that a concern for you as well?
AWhen we’re flying, what’s important to us is not just saving the life of the person that we’re delivering for,
but also ensuring that we’re safe for the people we’re flying
over—the people who live in the towns and cities that we fly
over on a daily basis. It’s really important that these vehicles
be able to operate at a similar level of reliability as general
aviation aircraft.
Q Could you describe just how the vehicles fly and make their deliveries?
AThe user experience of receiving a delivery from Zipline is very simple. Any doctor or health worker can use a
cellphone to send a text message to place an order. When
the distribution center receives that text, Zipline’s team
will basically pull the product from stock and load it into
one of our aircraft. That aircraft is then launched from
the distribution center, and it flies
autonomously to the destination’s
GPS coordinates.
QSo, no one is controlling it? It is all programmed electronically
and by computer?
AExactly. The plane is flying itself using a flight control algorithm.
It will descend to about 30 feet off
the ground, and then we drop the
package using a really simple paper
parachute. That enables us to deliver
every shipment right into the receiver’s “mailbox,” which is an area about
the size of two parking spaces on the
ground. The plane will turn around, come home, and land
at the distribution center. It is ready to fly again a few minutes later.
QHave you had any complications with your deliveries in Rwanda?
A We’ve made tens of thousands of deliveries, and we’ve never lost a vehicle. We design redundant systems into
every level, whether it’s the flight controls, the avionics, or
the way the vehicle is mechanically engineered.
Q And these are delivery vehicles that your company has created?
A Yes. We build everything from scratch. We also have a system on board so if the vehicle can’t make it back to
