Zipline is expanding its U.S. operations with plans to launch autonomous drone delivery services in Houston and Phoenix, marking one of the company’s biggest moves yet into large, densely populated metropolitan areas.
The expansion brings Zipline’s drone delivery model beyond smaller pilot markets and into two of the fastest-growing cities in the country, where traffic congestion, sprawl, and rising last-mile costs continue to challenge traditional delivery networks. The company said operations in both cities will support on-demand delivery for a wide range of everyday items, with deliveries designed to reach customers in minutes rather than hours.
In Houston, Zipline plans to build out local infrastructure to support drone delivery in neighborhoods, targeting cases where speed and reliability matter most. Phoenix will follow a similar model, with drones operating across wide service areas that are typically expensive and time-consuming to serve by car or van. The company said both markets were selected because of their size, growth, and suitability for aerial delivery routes.
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“Zipline’s expansion to Phoenix reflects our City’s strength as a national hub for advanced technology, autonomous systems, and jobs of the future,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said. “This investment will bring affordable, faster, and cleaner delivery options to our community and reinforces Phoenix’s position at the forefront of the future of logistics and mobility. Phoenix continues to be a national leader in adopting innovative technologies that improve daily life for our residents while supporting sustainable economic growth.”
The Houston and Phoenix launches come as Zipline crosses 2 million deliveries worldwide and raises more than $600 million to fund its next chapter. But the bigger signal isn’t the milestone or the money, it’s the move into two large, real-world U.S. cities where last-mile delivery is already stretched thin. Bringing drone delivery to Houston and Phoenix suggests Zipline is ready to move beyond limited rollouts and start proving how this model works at everyday, city-scale levels.
