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The U.S. Department of State is awarding US$150 million in Zipline, the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, to support the expansion of its life-saving artificial intelligence and robotics infrastructure across Africa.
Under this pay-for-performance model – the first of its kind from the State Department – the funds will be released only when African governments sign expansion contracts and commit to ongoing operating costs, ensuring long term sustainability of the service in public health systems.
Zipline Founder, Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, said each participating African government already uses Zipline regionally, and this award enables them to scale the centralized, on-demand logistics infrastructure nationwide.
In a report by Africa TechInsights, Clifton stated that at scale, Zipline’s expanded services would reach more than 130 million Africans with on-demand delivery that reduces waste, equalizes health access, increases treatment rates, and improves health outcomes.
“It triples the number of health facilities Zipline serves to 15,000 and supports the creation of more than 800 high-skilled, high-paying jobs in Africa in logistics, health systems, and advanced engineering in robotics and artificial intelligence,” he said.
Clifton highlighted that it would also drive up to $1 billion in annual economic gains across Africa by resolving the logistics and credit bottlenecks that choke commerce in so many regions.
He said the deal ushered in a new, results-driven model of foreign aid that prioritises innovation, scales what works, and emphasizes long term sustainability and mutual economic growth.
“Zipline has been operating across Africa since 2016, partnering with national governments to deliver blood and medicines to over 5,000 hospitals and health facilities,” Clifton nodetd.
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He said its work had been credited with helping cut maternal deaths by up to 56 percent, reducing zero-dose prevalence by 42 percent in a single year, and reducing missed opportunities to treat severe malaria by 66 percent.
Since its first delivery in 2016 in Rwanda, Zipline’s autonomous logistics system has flown more than 120 million commercial autonomous miles and completed over 1.7 million autonomous deliveries with zero safety incidents, proving it can rapidly deploy life-saving technology to expand access and improve health outcomes across Africa.
Rwanda is expected to be the first country to expand under this new award, building a third distribution center and doubling daily deliveries, expanding to urban communities with Zipline’s new short-range precision delivery drone, and building a first-of-its-kind flagship testing facility that hosts Zipline’s global hardware and software product testing.
Additional Zipline expansions are expected in additional countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Nigeria.
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