Uber brings Zipline drones onto Uber Eats delivery network

Uber is investing in, and partnering with, drone delivery company Zipline, with the goal of making one million deliveries per day using the startup’s drones by the end of 2029. Zipline drones will make their first deliveries on the Uber Eats platform by the end of this year, the companies said Monday, starting in Zipline’s existing markets before expanding into “dozens of U.S. cities.” The companies didn’t disclose the investment amount.

Uber has been adding multiple drone delivery partners as it looks for ways to keep growing Uber Eats, replicating the early business model it adopted for robotaxis and other autonomous-vehicle services — essentially bringing as many companies onto its platform as possible. That approach has helped Uber stay at the forefront of these technologies even as it sold off its own programs, like the aerial ridesharing service Uber Elevate and Uber Autonomous Technologies Group, which had worked on autonomous vehicles. Investments have been central to the strategy, with Uber committing more than $10 billion to dozens of autonomous-vehicle providers.

The approach isn’t without friction: Uber recently clashed with one of its highest-profile partners, Waymo, and the two companies are now expected to part ways when their contracts expire in 2028, with the companies also on different sides of a growing fight over autonomous-vehicle regulation.

Uber had tested drone delivery before, when it still had its Elevate division, and dipped back into the idea late last year with a partnership — and a minor investment — with Israeli startup Flytrex.

Uber believes Zipline’s drones can fulfill Uber Eats orders within five to 10 minutes. “Truly quick commerce is proving to be an even bigger market than the original food market was,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told The Wall Street Journal. “We think this can be an enormous tailwind for the next leg of growth for Eats.”

Zipline, based in San Francisco, recently closed an extended Series H round of $800 million, pushing its valuation to $7.6 billion.

Why it matters

The deal extends Uber’s playbook of investing in multiple autonomous partners rather than building the technology itself, betting that drone delivery becomes a meaningful new growth lever for Eats.