March 9, 2021 - Zipline, founded in 2014, delivers medical supplies, including blood, pharmaceutical supplies and vaccines in the United States and around the world. “We’ve delivered over a million doses of vaccines,” said Liam O’Connor, Zipline's chief operating officer, noting that the company delivered its first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Ghana in early March.
Flying the drones in the real-world winter conditions of wind, snow and cold is why Zipline set up a test site near Hatton, 40 miles southwest of Grand Forks. In addition to testing in a laboratory setting, in which drones are put in ultra-cold chambers and wind chambers, Zipline wanted to test outside in real-world conditions.