Can confirm; Zipline is ridiculously cool. I saw their P1 Drones in action in Ghana and met some of their staff at EA conferences. Imo, Zipline is one of the most important organizations around for last-mile delivery infrastructure. They’re a key partner for GAVI, and they save lives unbelievably cost-effectively by transporting commodities like snakebite antivenom within minutes to people who need it.
Their staff and operations are among the most high-performing of any organization I’ve ever seen. Here are some pics from a visit I took to their bay area office in October 2024. I’d highly recommend this Mark Rober video, and checking out Zipline’s website. If any software engineers are interested in high-impact work, I would encourage you to apply to Zipline!
Thanks for the links! And for the pics, makes me feel like I’m glimpsing the future, but it’s already here, just unevenly distributed. Everything you say jives with both what GiveWell said about Zipline in their grant writeup
Though this is our first engagement with Zipline, there are some early signals that we might be well-aligned as partners. Zipline’s proposal specifically calls out a few elements that are important to GiveWell: a) emphasis on cost-effectiveness , b) plans to establish an M&E framework early on for any potential pilots, and c) interest in evaluation and learning
Yep Snakebite is one of the few slamdunk usecases for me here. Until we design a cheap, heat stable antivenom I think drones that can get there in under an hour might be the best option in quite a wide range of places.
Can confirm; Zipline is ridiculously cool. I saw their P1 Drones in action in Ghana and met some of their staff at EA conferences. Imo, Zipline is one of the most important organizations around for last-mile delivery infrastructure. They’re a key partner for GAVI, and they save lives unbelievably cost-effectively by transporting commodities like snakebite antivenom within minutes to people who need it.
Their staff and operations are among the most high-performing of any organization I’ve ever seen. Here are some pics from a visit I took to their bay area office in October 2024. I’d highly recommend this Mark Rober video, and checking out Zipline’s website. If any software engineers are interested in high-impact work, I would encourage you to apply to Zipline!
Thanks for the links! And for the pics, makes me feel like I’m glimpsing the future, but it’s already here, just unevenly distributed. Everything you say jives with both what GiveWell said about Zipline in their grant writeup
as well as the vibe I get from their about page, stuff like
and 3 out of their 4 most prominent “output statistic” claims being health-oriented
Yeah the pointer to snakebite antivenom delivery feels useful, you reminded me of how big a problem it is.
Yep Snakebite is one of the few slamdunk usecases for me here. Until we design a cheap, heat stable antivenom I think drones that can get there in under an hour might be the best option in quite a wide range of places.