Drone

Amazon.com Inc. has laid off dozens of staff from its Prime Air drone delivery unit as it seeks to outsource drone manufacturing. The Financial Times reported today that the layoffs involve research and development staff along with manufacturing staff in a push to get what it said is its “heavily delayed ambitions …

Part of an occasional series, “Things the FAA Wishes More Pilots Knew.”  This article explains what drone flight over people really means, and when it is – and isn’t – allowed. This fall, DRONELIFE had the privilege of speaking on a panel with representatives from the FAA.  After some discussion, …

Source: Verge Aero After President-elect Joe Biden launched his victory speech on Nov. 7, Strictly FX launched a drone show to celebrate the former vice president’s win. With UAS provided by Verge Aero, Strictly FX produced a pyrotechnic and drone show over the celebration in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Del., …

Japan’s SkyDrive is moving fast to put commercial flying cars into the air over Osaka Bay.  The company, which launched a cargo drone this spring and flew their first flying car test flights this summer, plans to launch their air mobility product commercially by 2023.  It’s an ambitious timeline, but a …

Drone logistics startup Matternet today announced the launch of a delivery pilot at Labor Berlin Charité Vivantes, a health system in Berlin, Germany. The program kicked off on November 17, with permanent operations expected to begin next year. It creates what Matternet claims is the first urban beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) medical …

Source: Chicago from the Air Fans of Chicago (the city, not the band) will soon be treated to a unique, drone view of the Windy City with the release of the PBS film Chicago from the Air. Narrated by WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer, the film will take viewers on a FPV …

Source: Flyability In 2019, Switzerland-based Flyability had a mystery to solve at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Was nuclear waste still present in one of the plant’s decommissioned reactors? “At the time of the disaster, the fifth block of the Chernobyl Plant was under construction and nearing completion,” a Flyability spokesperson …

ANALYSIS/OPINION: For the first time in history, a war has been won almost entirely by unmanned aircraft — by what are technically called “armed drones” or Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, guided autonomously). On Nov. 10, Armenia surrendered to Azerbaijan, ceding control of the disputed enclave …

Source: Citadel Defense Counter-drone provider Citadel Defense recently launched a new AI and machine-learning software release for its Titan system. Company officials say the software-hardware combo represents an evolution of the tech after more than 27 months of “successful deployments across multiple combatant commands and hundreds of unique environments.” The counter-drone system …

Airspace Link builds digital drone highways in the air By DRONELIFE Staff Writer Jim Magill Just as cars and trucks do their jobs better when they have highways to travel on, as the number of unmanned aerial vehicles delivering packages or transporting medical tests expands, those drones will need highways …