When your customers can't wait for sunshine, neither can you.
I'm writing this from South Fork, Pennsylvania, beside a portable heater, waiting for feeling to return to my toes.
Yesterday's conditions: 18°F. Winds 20-30 mph with gusts to 40. Visibility compromised by blowing snow. In other words, a perfect day for flying.
My laptop died. My cell phone died. They're both great products from great companies, but neither were made for this.
But the HX1 drone from Horizon Aerobotics was. And without complaint or hesitation, it leaned into the bitter cold and wind and did its job.
A Good Day for Bad Conditions
This morning, I opened my inbox and read the latest from DroneLife—news of Walmart and Wing's expansion of drone delivery services into the Houston area. Houston's our hometown. That's good news for us, and we're genuinely celebrating the milestone and progress they're making.
But we're not celebrating in Houston.
Greg Cathey, Walmart's SVP of Digital Fulfillment Transformation, explained their site selection criteria to DroneLife:
"The second thing is we look at weather and where are the weather patterns going to be more beneficial for flying?"
And:
"We see this as a nationwide program. One of the things that we look at is where weather is more beneficial to flying. Obviously, the southern United States fits that bill."
Makes perfect sense for retail goods and grocery deliveries. When the weather's bad, your burrito can wait another day.
But for operators of critical infrastructure—the people who keep the lights on, the trains running, and the nation secure—safety and security can't wait. They don't have the luxury of heading south or waiting for better weather. When it's 18 degrees and the wind chill is below zero, they're still out there doing their jobs.
So we go where they go.
We Experiment a Lot
We're pushing the limits to make a better product. This work is hard. Building autonomous systems that operate reliably in extreme conditions doesn't happen on a predictable schedule—it happens through relentless testing, occasional spectacular failures, and the discipline to learn from every one of them.
We experiment constantly. We don't always succeed. When we don't, accelerated learning happens. That's progress. And when this long Pennsylvania winter ends, our product and operations will be better for it.
The DroneLife article notes that "as drone technology continues to evolve and UAVs become more weather-resilient, Walmart hopes to expand its service to more cities in the northern U.S."
We can't wait. Neither can our customers. So we're pushing limits and driving the evolution they need.
Our next stop is Bellevue, Ohio in January. Bring us your worst, Bellevue.
Serious Work in Difficult Places
We have tremendous respect for Wing and what they're accomplishing in drone delivery. They're advancing the entire industry, and that benefits everyone. But we serve different customers with different demands.
Horizon Aerobotics builds and operates autonomous industrial drones with AI for safety inspections and security patrols at scale—for people who do serious work in difficult places, and can't wait until the weather improves.
So, we go where they go. And yesterday, that was 18°F with nearly 40 mph gusts in rural Pennsylvania.
About Horizon Aerobotics
Horizon Aerobotics is an AI-native autonomous drone intelligence company transforming critical infrastructure security and safety through 24/7 aerial patrol and inspection services. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, with Remote Operations Centers in Texas and Pennsylvania, Horizon serves Fortune 100 customers and federal agencies in maritime security, transportation safety, and critical infrastructure monitoring. Learn more at www.horizonaerobotics.com.