At an undisclosed location in Wyoming, a drone company called Zipline is testing technology that could one day bring reliable drone deliveries from Walmart to the Cowboy State — sooner, rather than later.
The secret testing site on a Wyoming ranch is near one of the state’s borders. Photos from the site show snow-covered peaks in the background in an August 2024 blog post about the work.
There are also foggy shots of suspended drones that look a bit surreal, like something that might have been shot during a post-apocalyptic movie like “The Day After Tomorrow” or “Arctic Blast.”
But the science being done at the secret Wyoming site is anything but fictional.
It’s serious work, being led by scientists with some pretty serious credentials. Gustavo Fujiwara is the aeronautical engineer on site.
The MIT graduate has worked with both NASA and the FAA on aerodynamic research for more than a decade now. During that time, he’s helped design safety mitigations for large jets and airplanes, and several of his papers revolve around icing, wind tunnel testing and aircraft icing protection.
In Zipline’s blog post, Fujiwara talks about how everything behaves differently when cold. Human bones ache when cold and human minds become slower, foggier.
Metal, meanwhile, shrinks and, if temperatures are dropping and humidity is high enough, can quickly become an ice magnet.
The effects of cold on both human and manufactured components will have to be sorted out when it comes to using drones in winter environments if drone deliveries are to become commonplace in a state like Wyoming.
But it’s vital that it happens, Fujiwara added.
“When snowy and icy roads are too dangerous to drive and someone has an emergency requiring a life-saving product, that’s when people need us the most,” he said.
Drone Deliveries Already Going In Warmer Climates
Walmart has already begun drone deliveries in warmer, more temperate climates like Bentonville, Arkansas, where the global company is based.
A video posted on X of a drone dropping off a parachuted box on someone’s lawn had people questioning whether the video was real or AI. It was real, Cowboy State Daily was told by Walmart’s senior manager of global communications, Jennifer Chunn.
The company has actually been testing drone deliveries in Bentonville starting in 2021.
The most popular drone-delivered items, according to the company’s online media materials, have been fresh fruit like bananas, lemons, and limes, Great Value eggs, ice cream and pet food.
But not to worry about drones replacing human jobs, Chunn added. The drones can only carry between 2 to 5 pounds in one trip. They’re not going to be appropriate at all for something large, like a weekly grocery store order.
Larger orders will still be delivered by car with a very human driver for the foreseeable future.
“This is more if someone wants one or two items,” Chunn said. “Like I forgot the main ingredient for my soup, or I need some eggs for brunch. Or maybe I’m sick and I just want Tylenol and some tissues.”
It could also be useful for emergency types of deliveries, or something that’s needed quickly. Like medications that someone needs right away. Or a lunchbox for a forgetful child.
“It can be delivered in 30 minutes, so super-fast,” Chunn said. “The flight time is an average four minutes once it leaves the store.”
“After completing 150,000 successful deliveries in Bentonville, Walmart expanded its drone delivery service to five other U.S. cities with milder climates: Atlanta; Houston; Orlando and Tampa, Florida; and Charlotte, North Carolina.”
“We are in 24 cities around the Dallas metro, and we will be in over 35 by the end of this year,” Chunn added.
The company’s criteria for expansion includes mild weather, high customer demand and a robust Walmart footprint.
“It’s all packed at the store for drone delivery,” Chunn said. “So, we look for areas that have a robust number of stores.”
Cowboys And Drones — Let ’Em Buck
The good weather component would seem like an obvious dealbreaker for Wyoming. The Cowboy State has particularly high wind in the winter and plenty of cold temperatures to go around.
But that’s where Zipline’s remote testing site comes in to help accelerate drone deliveries to unlikely places.
Zipline is one of two companies Walmart is using for its delivery services. The other is Wing. Both companies declined to comment on the record, but Zipline provided a link to its blog post about its Wyoming test site, which includes a heated operations base, maintenance facilities, and docking towers, as well as a fog machine for test flights.
Because natural icing conditions are relatively rare, the fog machine lets researchers simulate scenarios on demand.
In addition to putting drones through test flights of various conditions in Wyoming, researchers also observed the overnight effects of ice and snow on the drones, drone batteries and docking stations, as well as taking notes about what kinds of tools humans will need to navigate challenges in the environment.
There were some surprises in their data. The drones were more robust in some ways than expected. They had no trouble remaining aloft without overheating or straining batteries on clear, cold days.
Fluctuating temperatures, however, did encourage more icing problems. While expected, that will be a major challenge.
All the data from the Wyoming test site has gone back to Zipline’sheadquarters in San Francisco, where it’s being used to create new designs and processes that could extend the limits of drones to places like Wyoming sooner than its residents might expect.
There will be more rounds of testing at the Wyoming ranch, according to the company’s blog post, something the ranch owners, who are not identified, say is exciting.
“We love Zipline’s mission and want to be part of a winning team,” the wife said. “We feel like Zipline is a winning team. I just see this future where there are cowboys and drones.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
