Zipline is launching healthcare drone delivery with Cleveland Clinic. It hired Tesla and Waymo veterans to scale.

Zipline said the number of businesses offering delivery through its app grew 13 times during the first half of 2026. The autonomous drone delivery company has now completed more than 2.5 million commercial deliveries, including one million in the last year alone, and says it operates more flights per day than major US airlines. Roughly 70% of its flights take place in the United States.

The company is launching in two new markets. In Cleveland, Zipline will start its first US healthcare home delivery service with Cleveland Clinic, delivering prescriptions to eligible patients at no additional cost in the Beachwood suburb. The programme will expand to lab samples, medically tailored meals, and hospital-at-home materials. In Austin, customers will be able to receive food and retail deliveries from local businesses in as little as five minutes.

Zipline hired three executives to support the expansion. Sendil Palani joins as CFO after 17 years at Tesla, where he was VP of Finance and joined when the company produced one vehicle per day. Kevin Vosen is the new Chief Legal Officer after nearly seven years in the same role at Waymo. Allen Penn, who helped grow Uber from 25 employees to more than 25,000 and ran global operations at Uber Eats, joins as Head of Commercial. Drone delivery has evolved from suburban novelty to competitive infrastructure, and Zipline’s executive hires signal a company preparing for a scale that resembles ride-hailing more than logistics.

The marketplace momentum is specific. Wonder will use Zipline delivery at 50 upcoming Texas food halls. Little Caesars is expanding from five Zipline locations to 65. Chipotle is already on the platform alongside local restaurants. Zipline has flown more than 135 million autonomous miles and delivered 20 million items without a safety incident, a distance equivalent to driving every road in America 32 times. Drone startups across sectors are scaling rapidly as regulatory clarity and commercial demand converge, and Zipline’s healthcare entry with Cleveland Clinic adds a use case that goes well beyond food delivery.