How I Built This with Guy Raz – Delivering the future in drones with Keller Rinaudo Clifton of Zipline

Intro

In this episode of “How I Built This with Guy Raz,” Keller Rinaudo Clifton, the founder of Zipline, a drone delivery company, shares his journey of building a company that delivers critical medical supplies to rural areas. Through innovative technology and a focus on improving healthcare access, Zipline has revolutionized the logistics industry.

Main Takeaways

Building Innovative Robotics Solutions

• Keller Rinaudo Clifton founded Zipline, a drone delivery company for critical medical supplies to rural areas with limited access to emergency medicine and hospitals.
• Before Zipline, Keller founded Remotive, a robotics business that pivoted into drones.
• Remotive built an application on an iPhone that turned it into a mini robot, which was half a toy, half a telepresence solution, and half a way of teaching kids to program.
• The company needed to build and sell a simple product fast to get off the ground, which led to the creation of the Smartphone robots.

Inspiration from Visionary Entrepreneurs

• Keller was inspired by Tony Shay, founder of Zappos, and his book “Delivering Happiness” about building a successful business.
• Tony invested in Keller’s robotics company despite their lack of credibility and money.
• The robotics company eventually became Zipline, which focuses on automated instant logistics.
• Keller was inspired by Kiva Robotics’ orange robots that could run around inside a warehouse and bring items to be packed.

Addressing Global Healthcare Supply Chain Challenges

• Zipline’s automated instant logistics system is faster, cheaper, and emission-free compared to traditional logistics systems.
• The system uses electric and autonomous vehicles that weigh around 50 pounds and can fly for faster delivery.
• Zipline’s focus on countries with limited healthcare access led them to Tanzania, where they discovered a database of medical emergencies without a system for quick delivery.
• Zipline’s system fills a crucial gap in the healthcare supply chain by delivering medical supplies quickly and efficiently to those in need.

Expanding Operations and Future Goals

• Zipline has expanded its operations to Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, and the US, and has delivered 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 5 million plus doses of traditional vaccine, and 75% of the national blood supply of Rwanda outside of Kigali fully autonomously.
• Zipline aims to build a teleportation system where a doctor or nurse can press a button on a phone to teleport the product needed to save a patient’s life in just a few minutes to the GPS coordinates of that phone.
• Zipline has announced a new aircraft or drone that can deliver to homes, not just medical supplies but also food or packages.
• Zipline has grown to become the largest commercial autonomous system of any kind, ground or air, on Earth, crossing 40 million commercial autonomous miles.

Summary

Revolutionizing Healthcare Delivery with Drones

Keller Rinaudo Clifton founded Zipline with the aim of delivering critical medical supplies to rural areas with limited access to emergency medicine and hospitals. Inspired by visionary entrepreneurs like Tony Shay and Kiva Robotics, Keller built an innovative automated instant logistics system using electric and autonomous vehicles. Zipline’s system has proven to be faster, cheaper, and emission-free compared to traditional logistics systems. By focusing on countries with limited healthcare access, Zipline fills a crucial gap in the healthcare supply chain, delivering medical supplies quickly and efficiently. With expanding operations and ambitious goals, Zipline aims to revolutionize home delivery and become a global leader in autonomous logistics.

Overcoming Challenges and Expanding Globally

Zipline faced numerous challenges when launching in Rwanda, including integrating with the national healthcare system and working with the national airspace regulator. However, their perseverance paid off, and they successfully delivered blood supplies to rural hospitals. This initial success led to further expansion in Africa and the United States, where Zipline has delivered millions of doses of vaccines and a significant portion of Rwanda’s national blood supply. With their advanced technology and commitment to hyper-precision, Zipline is poised to serve millions of homes worldwide within the next five years, transforming the delivery industry.

Conclusion

Zipline’s journey from a robotics business to a leading drone delivery company showcases the power of innovation and determination. By leveraging technology to address healthcare supply chain challenges, Zipline has made a significant impact on improving healthcare access in remote areas. With their expanding operations and ambitious goals, Zipline is set to revolutionize the delivery industry and provide instant, efficient, and environmentally friendly solutions to customers worldwide.