{"id":463678,"date":"2026-10-12T12:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463678\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T12:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:32:10","slug":"worlds-largest-drone-delivery-company-launches-in-central-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463678\/","title":{"rendered":"World&#8217;s largest drone delivery company launches in Central Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Zipline began its new service with an inaugural food delivery in Round Rock, the first step in a broader expansion across the Austin area.<\/p>\n<p>Students on Stony Point High School\u2019s drone team placed and received the first official order during Thursday\u2019s launch event. Zipline also announced a partnership with the Round Rock Independent School District to connect students with employees through career fairs, facility tours and other activities. Initially, the service is limited to about 5,000 residents who can sign up for Zipline\u2019s First Flight membership, which waives service and delivery fees.<\/p>\n<p>The company said its service will expand from Round Rock to Austin over the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZipline\u2019s decision to serve Round Rock residents as its first Austin location is evidence that Williamson County has developed into an important technology center,\u201d Williamson County Judge Steven\u00a0Snell said in a statement. \u201cWilliamson County\u2019s tech footprint continues to expand. Zipline\u2019s drone delivery is bringing fast and convenient solutions to improve everyday life for WilCo residents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zipline uses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesman.com\/business\/technology\/article\/austin-saronic-port-alpha-jd-vance-brownsville-22452939.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fully autonomous<\/a> drones to bring orders directly to customers from partners stores such as Chipotle, Walmart, Crumbl Cookies, local restaurants and pharmacies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After a customer places an order, the store prepares it while a nearby drone charges at a docking site. Once the order is ready, the aircraft launches and flies to about 300 feet above the store.<\/p>\n<p>Hovering overhead, it lowers a temperature-controlled pod by cable. Store employees either place the order inside or use a passcode-protected drop box that allows the drone to retrieve it automatically.<\/p>\n<p>The drone then carries the order to the customer, lowering it by cable into a designated drop-off location such as a front or backyard. Customers can track the delivery through the company\u2019s app, Hill said.<\/p>\n<p>Zipline can also deliver to apartment and office buildings using communal drop-off areas or sidewalks.<\/p>\n<p>During deliveries, the drones produce sound levels of less than 60 decibels\u00a0\u2014 about as loud as a dishwasher running in the next room. The drones&#8217; pods can carry about 8 pounds on round trips of about 10 miles. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zipline began its new service with an inaugural food delivery in Round Rock, the first step in a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-463678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}