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kennethaw88 / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) A Michigan county’s attempt to ban drone flights in its public parks crashed and burned last week after a judge ruled the ordinance flew in the face of state law. Flint-area circuit court Judge Joseph Farah granted an injunction to prohibit enforcement of the ban …

JD Drone disinfecting Mongolia Chinese delivery giant JD has joined the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.  JD.com reports that the company flew two drones spraying disinfectant in Ordos City, an important industrial city in Inner Mongolia, China. “With an increasing number of people returning back to work from …

The FAA announced a long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Remote ID for drones on 12/31/2019.  The comment period required by federal law is open until March 2, 2020 (if you wish to comment, you may review the NPRM and do so here.)  Over 13,000 comments have been submitted …

In the UK, anybody over the age of 18 can purchase a drone and, after a quick, online multiple-choice quiz, register and fly it. Legally, any adult can fly lightweight drones recreationally without a license. However, if you are more serious about flying and want to use drone piloting as …

Doosan CEO Doo Soon Lee, Image courtesy African Drone Forum At drone shows around the world companies from South Korea (Republic of Korea) have taken a major place – and this week in Rwanda, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the World Banks Group’s Korea Office, and the …

In a move that may clear the way for more drone-delivery projects, the FAA this week released a proposal to certify some drones as a “special class” of aircraft. The notice of policy will allow the FAA flexibility to create new types of certificates based on specific functions as drone …

Lake Kivu Challenge: Courtesy African Drone Forum The African Drone Forum (ADF) officially kicked off today in Kigali, Rwanda, and drone businesses from around the world were there to demonstrate their technology to heigh level African stakeholders.  (Livestream the ADF events here.) Africa represents a huge opportunity: both for communities …

image: Easy Aerial Easy Aerial is a small company with a big list of customers that include the U.S. AirForce, the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol, and more – all performing applications that the company can’t discuss.  But this week, Easy Aerial drones are helping …

image courtesy Percepto A DRONELIFE Exlusive interview with Dor Abuhasira, Co-Founder and CEO of Percepto. Of all of the buzz words used in the drone industry in 2019, “automation” was one of the biggest.  Along with AI , drone companies touted automation in every aspect of drone use.  There are …

The drone industry continues to evolve, with new hardware offerings appearing at every new trade show. As industry observers look for hard evidence on what to expect next, one clue can be found in these year-end review statistics DRONELIFE received from open source drone development leaders Auterion. (The data source to …