Walmart and Zipline announced a multiyear agreement on November 5 to expand drone delivery from 21 active sites in Texas and Arkansas to at least 300 locations across the United States. The retailer says the existing program has already completed more than 2 million autonomous deliveries since the partnership began in 2021.
Under the deal, Zipline's drones will serve customers from Walmart stores in markets that have not yet been disclosed, with deliveries arriving in as little as 10 to 30 minutes for tens of thousands of eligible items. Zipline's platform keeps its aircraft roughly 330 feet above the ground throughout the flight, then lowers a tethered pod carrying the order the rest of the way rather than landing. The company says its fleet has logged 150 million commercial autonomous miles without a major safety incident.
A tenfold jump in site count
Scaling from 21 to at least 300 sites is more than a tenfold increase in Walmart's Zipline footprint, and the retailer frames 300 as a floor rather than a ceiling under the multiyear contract. Greg Cathey, Walmart's senior vice president for e-commerce fulfillment transformation, said customers who try drone delivery \"for the novelty\" return to it \"for the convenience when they need something in minutes.\" Walmart calls its combined Zipline-and-Wing operation the largest retail drone delivery program in the country, noting that roughly 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of one of its stores.
The expansion lands just after Zipline closed a $1.5 billion funding round at a $21.5 billion valuation, money the drone company has said will fund US manufacturing capacity. Walmart's bet mirrors a broader retail race: Amazon continues building out Prime Air sites in cities including Tallahassee, while Zipline also delivers for other retail partners. The difference for Walmart is density — rather than opening standalone logistics hubs, it is converting existing stores into launch pads, a model that keeps capital costs lower than Amazon's dedicated drone facilities.
What determines the pace of rollout
Neither company has published a state-by-state schedule for the 300 new sites, and Walmart has not said how many will be live by the end of 2026 versus spread into 2027. Local permitting, FAA airspace approval and noise ordinances have slowed past drone rollouts in some cities, and Zipline will need to replicate its Texas and Arkansas safety record at far greater scale. The next milestone to watch is which metro areas Walmart names first, since that will indicate whether the company is prioritizing dense suburban markets or filling gaps in its existing Southern footprint.