Zipline has raised USD 1.5 billion in funding to expand its U.S. manufacturing facilities and its workforce as it builds a nationwide drone delivery network.

The funding round was led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Uber, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures.

Walmart and Zipline are currently working together to launch 300 additional sites as part of a new national multi-year agreement. Meanwhile, Uber is targeting one million deliveries a day with Zipline by 2029.

Zipline says more than one million drone deliveries were made within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone this year. The company recently rolled out an acoustics upgrade designed to make drone flights quieter, faster and more energy efficient. It has also introduced its latest aircraft, designed to fly higher and quieter while carrying heavier orders over longer distances.

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Zipline

The UK’s Transport Research and Innovation Board (TRIB) is holding a series of workshops this month as part of its drone mapping project, which examines how drones are currently being used, trialled and developed.

The project is working to map existing and planned drone activities, including their applications, locations, organisations involved, delivery arrangements and future plans.

TRIB works closely with the UK Department for Transport. The board’s previous work in the sector has resulted in the Barriers and Pathways to Adoption Report, which provides insight into the regulatory, operational and technical challenges facing wider drone integration.

The first of the drone mapping project workshops took place on 4 November in London. This will be followed by a virtual event on 11 November and workshops in Birmingham and Edinburgh on 19 and 26 November respectively. The Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems UK (ARPAS-UK) said the workshops are aimed primarily at transport and public-sector organisations. 

The workshops will review and validate emerging findings from the project’s literature review and scan of UK and international drone applications, regulations and research. TRIB will then identify priority use cases where there may be opportunities for organisations to collaborate.

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TRIB

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Japanese eVTOL developer SkyDrive reports it will launch a feasibility study to repurpose existing rooftop emergency landing sites in Osaka City as eVTOL vertiports. This project, part of the Cabinet Office’s Super City Initiative, will be conducted with collaborating partners including Chodai Co Ltd, Kansai Electric Power Co Inc, and Organization of Airport Facilitation, said the company in a press release.

The project will conduct a phased evaluation to determine the viability and prospects of repurposing existing building rooftop emergency landing zones in Osaka City into operational vertiports for eVTOL aircraft, focusing on the following core areas:

The study involves evaluating high-rise structures in Osaka City that feature established emergency landing zones (identified by an “H” symbol). By utilizing airspace maps, the project will categorize and examine flight operations by district and confirm compliance with Civil Aeronautics Act standards. The project will analyze locations where building-induced winds occur to clarify safe weather and operational requirements. Additionally, it will simulate noise levels during takeoff, landing and flight.

“To evaluate the feasibility of establishing alternate vertiports for eVTOLs, the survey will assess floor load capacities to withstand aircraft landings, map out passenger movement flows during flight diversions, and establish logistics for transporting aircraft in cases of mechanical failure,” said the company. “Additionally, it will evaluate the feasibility of installing charging infrastructure, determine necessary upgrades or new installations for power receiving and transforming equipment, and calculate estimated project costs.”

SkyDrive and its partners will consult with relevant organizations, including the Osaka Municipal Fire Department, to draft emergency scenarios and coexistence rules that balance the original purpose of “disaster response and lifesaving operations” with “ensuring safety in the daily operation of eVTOL.”

Following their collaboration at the Expo 2025 Osaka, SkyDrive and Osaka Metro are working toward the commercial launch of eVTOL services by approximately 2028 within Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City, areas recognized by the Cabinet Office as “Super City National Strategic Special Zones” for their commitment to an “optimally mobile society” through advanced technology. A significant obstacle to the widespread adoption of this next-generation mobility is the scarcity of vertiport hubs. Establishing new takeoff and landing sites from the ground up is particularly impractical in dense urban centers where available open space is severely limited, said the company.

Currently, Osaka City contains 146 rooftop “emergency landing sites” (marked with an H), primarily on buildings over 100 meters tall as required by local fire safety regulations. While these sites constitute an established infrastructure network — complete with reinforced flooring, fire suppression systems, and lighting — their utilization is presently limited to emergency disaster relief. These valuable assets remain exclusively for emergency use because　securing commercial passenger transport permits for their use as alternate vertiports, remains a significant regulatory challenge.

The 146 existing rooftop emergency helipads across Osaka City were designed exclusively for disaster response, unlike most previous eVTOL hub projects that centered on constructing new infrastructure. “Consequently, comprehensive operational guidelines and targeted regulatory frameworks for converting these sites into commercial vertiports are still being developed,” said SkyDrive. “A central element of this initiative combines desktop research with direct on-site building assessments. This dual approach provides the concrete operational and safety data required to obtain regulatory clearances. Ultimately, the insights gained will inform future vertiport construction standards. By adapting this methodology to other regions with comparable needs, we seek to accelerate the broader integration of next-generation mobility into daily life.”

The company has also announced the appointments of Taiji Ono as executive vice president and head of global business, and Gonzalo Ramos as global commercial officer. “Under this new executive leadership structure, SkyDrive will accelerate its preparations for commercial operation and service launches in Japan and around the world, specifically advancing route development and establishing operational frameworks,” said SkyDrive

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https://skydrive.co.jp/en/news/73083/#:~:text=Building%20on%20its,Editor%E2%80%99s%20Notes%3A

SkyDrive Strengthens Executive Leadership to Accelerate Global Commercialization and Business Expansion – SkyDrive Inc.

(Image: SkyDrive)