Your next Uber Eats order might arrive by air sooner than you think.
On Monday, the companies announced that Uber has taken a financial stake in Zipline and will work with the drone delivery firm.
Uber estimates that Zipline's aircraft will complete Eats orders in five to 10 minutes.
Uber is signing up multiple drone-delivery companies to help expand Eats. The ride-hailing company is applying the same approach it has used for robotaxis and other self-driving services: rather than developing its own technology, it is opening its app to outside partners. That strategy has kept Uber near the leading edge even after it divested its own efforts, including Uber Elevate and the Uber Autonomous Technologies Group, which once worked on self-driving cars.
Uber has already invested more than $10 billion in self-driving vehicle companies. The Zipline partnership reflects another bet on a specialist's hardware and logistics instead of an in-house aircraft program. This approach could let Uber match faster delivery promises without taking on the cost of building and operating a drone fleet.
Uber previously experimented with airborne deliveries during the Elevate era. It returned to the concept late last year by teaming up with Flytrex, an Israeli startup, and making a small investment.
The two companies expect to start drone Eats deliveries before the end of the year in cities where Zipline is already active. They then plan to expand to dozens of U.S. markets. Zipline's goal of one million deliveries per day by the end of 2029 points to a future in which drone delivery is a core part of Uber Eats rather than a novelty.
But the strategy is not a panacea. Uber and Waymo also disagree on how self-driving vehicles should be regulated.
The companies didn't disclose the investment amount. The San Francisco company just wrapped up an expanded Series H raise of $800 million, which put its valuation at $7.6 billion.
"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 in an interview. "We think this can be an enormous tailwind for the next leg of growth for Eats."
"Every great transportation revolution has changed where people live, how businesses operate, and how economies grow," Keller Cliffton, who helped found Zipline, said in a statement. "Together with Uber, we're taking the next step toward building a world where getting what you need is as fast and effortless as sending a text, no matter where you are."
