Uber Eats to ramp up drone deliveries for U.S. masses

Uber launched a partnership Monday with drone delivery company Zipline. The two companies planned to scale up their drone deliveries, hitting the rate of a million Uber Eats orders per day by the end of 2029. The first aerial shipments were set for launch later this year in Houston and Dallas, where Zipline already operates, before expanding to dozens of U.S. cities, Zipline said in a statement. Deliveries from local restaurants, convenience stores, and grocery shops will be completed in 5-10 minutes, Uber added.

Keller Cliffton, the co-founder of Zipline, called the partnership a transportation revolution. Drone shipments are more sustainable and have lower emissions, said Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. As part of the deal, Uber made an undisclosed investment in Zipline.

Has Zipline made food deliveries before? The San Francisco-based company got its start delivering medical supplies by drone in Rwanda. It later expanded to partner with U.S. health organizations and fast food restaurants, such Cleveland Clinic and Chipotle.

Is this Uber’s first partnership with drones? In 2025, the company collaborated with another delivery service, Flytrex, to offer similar services in Texas and North Carolina. Earlier this year, Uber also partnered with Manna Air Delivery in Ireland.

What other companies have shipped via drones? Last year, Amazon announced Prime Air, which it said would deliver packages in under an hour. Google-owned Wing partnered with Walmart in January, aiming to provide aerial deliveries in 270 locations by the end of 2027.