Neros

1 Million Drone Deliveries a Day by 2028 | Keller Cliffton, Zipline

Sep 14, 2026 · 41:26

Zipline Co-Founder and CEO Keller Cliffton tells Ti Morse how an Uber Eats partnership demanding 1 million drone deliveries a day within 2.5 years forced Zipline to discard its operating plan six months after setting it. He argues hardware companies are chains of 30 multiplied disciplines where one failure makes the company a zero, producing shifting existential crises from tariffs to maintenance backlogs. Because customers want 'teleportation,' not drones, Zipline is artificially constraining home sign-ups while doubling factory capacity originally sized for 20,000–40,000 aircraft a year—Cliffton needs five times that. He says 5.5 billion annual US instant deliveries could become 55 billion at observed behavior, and closes arguing robotics will 'give the Earth back to humans.'

Manufacturing 1 million drones a year | Olaf Hichwa, Neros

Aug 11, 2026 · 1:06:28

Olaf Hichwa, co-founder and CTO of drone maker Neros, says the company now builds over 1,000 Archers a week and plans to reach a 130,000-drone annual run rate by December and one million drones a year by 2028 from its new 250,000 sq ft factory. In the episode he explains why drones cause roughly 70% of casualties in Ukraine, why Neros designs for operators rather than government specs, and how Archer AI lets a drone lock onto a target and strike even after losing comms or GPS. He also details the Bandit interceptor, the decision to vertically integrate components, and lessons from a Chinese production line making 2,000 Russian kamikaze drones a day, arguing the West must rebuild its drone industrial base to maintain credible deterrence.