奥斯汀都会区首个Zipline无人机配送站在圆石市开业：市府承认分区法规无相关条款
无人机配送公司 Zipline 在奥斯汀都会区的首个配送站已于10月9日（周五）在圆石市投入运营，但圆石市政府公开承认：现行分区法规中根本没有针对无人机配送站的条款。据无人机媒体 DroneXL 10月11日报道，该配送站位于东棕榈谷大道3000号（3000 E. Palm Valley Blvd），地处圆石市的域外管辖区（ETJ）——即市政府有影响力但无分区管辖权的环形地带。市政府在面向居民的信息页面上写明，无人机配送站“在现行分区条例中未被专门规定”。
市政府表示，正在与 Zipline 合作，在35号州际公路北行方向、文艺复兴广场（Renaissance Square）购物中心后方建设第二个配送站（位于市界内），并将以该站点为试点，制定未来无人机配送站的规则。换言之，圆石市选择了“先开业、后立法”的顺序：先让一个站点在协议框架下运行，观察之后再写条例。与之形成对比的是，达拉斯郊区的罗利特市（Rowlett）市议会2025年5月20日以6比0投票，提前把无人机配送站写入了分区法规。
值得注意的时间点是：联邦航空管理局（FAA）对 Zipline 奥斯汀运营的草案审查，于10月11日（周日）截止公众意见。市政府的信息页面也向居民划清了权责边界：FAA 按 Part 135 对配送运营商发证并掌管空域与航线，州法支持这种优先权；市政府只管土地用途——配送站可以设在哪里、能不能挨着住宅区，但管不了无人机飞越居民区上空。市政府把配送无人机的噪音比作“远处听到的小型电器或草坪设备”。噪音或扰民投诉请找 Zipline，安全问题找 FAA；隐私方面则适用《德州政府法典》第423章：以监视为目的拍摄他人或私人财产属C级轻罪，每次拍摄可处最高5,000美元民事罚款、传播最高10,000美元。
据 News 4 San Antonio 记者布里安娜·佩雷斯（Brianna Perez）10月10日的报道，开业仅一天，Zipline 应用上已有25家圆石市商户上线，其中包括 Instill Coffee。店主米歇尔·贝尔（Michelle Bell）说，加入是为了“帮这座城市测试一些新事物”。Zipline 社区事务负责人扎克·希尔（Zach Hill）表示：“这只是开始，这是我们的第一个站点。”据介绍，配送飞机时速可达75英里（约121公里）、飞行高度约300英尺（约91米），每单载重约5磅（2.3公斤）；公司称已累计飞行超过1.35亿商业英里而无严重伤害事故（其奥斯汀发布公告称超过1.4亿英里）。
开业前一天的10月8日，Zipline 还在圆石市的斯托尼角高中（Stony Point High School）做了演示。该校是圆石独立学区四所开设“无人机航空”课程的高中之一（另三所为 Cedar Ridge、McNeil 和 Round Rock 高中），学生可考取 FAA Part 107 执照，课程涵盖飞行导航、行业法规、任务规划等。据 KXAN 报道，Zipline 与学区的合作还将包括课堂访问、招聘会和设施参观，未来可能扩展到学区的工程与机器人项目。
（综合自 DroneXL 10月11日报道，信源包括圆石市政府官网、KXAN、Community Impact、News 4 San Antonio）
Zipline's First Austin-Area Drone Hub Opens in Round Rock as City Admits It Has No Zoning Rule
Zipline's first Austin-area drone hub sits outside Round Rock's city limits — and the City of Round Rock says its zoning code has no rule for drone hubs at all. The hub at 3000 E. Palm Valley Blvd., in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), opened deliveries on Friday, October 9, DroneXL reported October 11.
The city laid this out on an information page for residents: drone delivery hubs, where the aircraft are stored, launched, and recharged, are "not specifically addressed under the City's current zoning ordinances." The same page says the city is working with Zipline on a second hub inside city limits, behind the Renaissance Square shopping center on northbound Interstate 35, and will use that site to work out what the rules for future hubs should be. In other words, Round Rock chose to open first and legislate later — one hub running under an agreement with the company, the ordinance after it has watched the site run. By contrast, the Rowlett City Council, in the Dallas suburbs, voted 6 to 0 on May 20, 2025, to write drone hubs into its zoning code before Zipline opened there.
The Federal Aviation Administration's draft review of Zipline's Austin operations closed to public comment on Sunday, October 11. The city's page draws its authority at the property line: the FAA certifies the operator under Part 135 for delivery and controls airspace and flight paths, with state law backing that preemption. Round Rock keeps land use — where a hub can sit and whether it sits next to homes — but cannot regulate flights over neighborhoods. The city describes delivery-drone noise as similar to a small electric device or lawn equipment heard at a distance. Noise or nuisance complaints go to Zipline, safety concerns to the FAA; for privacy, the page points to Texas Government Code Chapter 423, which makes capturing images of people or private property for surveillance a Class C misdemeanor with civil penalties of up to $5,000 per incident for capture and $10,000 for distribution.
News 4 San Antonio reporter Brianna Perez counted 25 businesses on the Zipline app in Round Rock one day into service, in a report published October 10. Instill Coffee is among them, and co-owner Michelle Bell said the shop joined to help test something new in the city. Zach Hill, who leads community engagement for Zipline, told the station: "This is just the beginning, and this is our first site." The aircraft fly at up to 75 mph (121 km/h) at about 300 feet (91 meters), carry about 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms) per order, and the company says it has flown more than 135 million commercial miles without a serious injury (its Austin launch announcement puts the total above 140 million).
On October 8, a day before opening, Zipline demonstrated at Stony Point High School, one of four Round Rock ISD high schools teaching the district's Drone Aviation program — the others are Cedar Ridge, McNeil, and Round Rock High — where students can work toward the FAA Part 107 certificate. Zipline told KXAN the partnership with the district will bring classroom visits, career fairs, and facility tours, and could extend to the district's engineering and robotics programs.
(Compiled from DroneXL, October 11, 2026, with reporting from the City of Round Rock, KXAN, Community Impact, and News 4 San Antonio)
图片来源：图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Roksenhorn 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权
