News

Japanese drone provider Terra Drone Corporation and Brazilian company Plimsoll UAV last week announced a joint venture called Terra Drone Brazil. Terra Drone specializes in commercial drone hardware, software and UTM. The company focuses on the mining, construction, energy generation, oil and gas sectors, using UAS-based LiDAR and photogrammetry surveying solutions. Plimsoll focuses …

As the dust settles over the drone incident at London’s Gatwick airport before Christmas, officials seem no closer to understanding what happened, who was responsible or even if anyone actually was responsible. Iain Gray, director of aerospace at Cranfield University, took time out this week to speak at a briefing at …

Not all is well on home soil for Chinese drone manufacturer and industry leader DJI. The company has discovered a devastating level of internal corruption that in turn has caused 2018 losses in the region of $150 million. On Friday the company confirmed more than 1 billion yuan had been …

While the U.S. and Europe inch closer to drone delivery, China is racing ahead.  China’s leading e-commerce company, JD, has launched an agressive trial in remote areas of China. Xinhua.net reports that New Year’s gifts are being delivered by drone to rural areas ahead of China’s Spring Festival.  “Though online …

Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s recent address to the Transportation Research Board named three new initiatives for drones: but only one of them garnered the attention of the mainstream press.  Chao’s announcement about the UTM Pilot Project could be even more important for the drone industry than the Notice …

Flying a drone is very different from flying a plane or driving a car. For starters, it’s remote. The separation between pilot and vehicle means there’s limited accountability built into the situation. And that’s an issue. If you want to reassure members of the public and law enforcement that what you’re doing …

While the U.S. and Europe inch closer to drone delivery, China is racing ahead.  China’s leading e-commerce company, JD, has launched an agressive trial that the company says will lead to 50% of its packages being delivered by drone. Xinhua.net reports that New Year’s gifts are being delivered by drone …

Last year’s Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) XPONENTIAL trade show included the inaugural XCELLENCE Humanitarian Awards. Prizes were awarded to five organizations that had used unmanned technology in innovative ways for humanitarian or philanthropic efforts around the world. The 2018 winners spanned disaster management, medical assistance and search-and-rescue …

At yesterday’s annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced new proposed rules to allow drones to fly overnight and over people without waivers under certain conditions. Chao said that the time was right to move forward on 3 new DOT initiatives …

Transport Canada has announced new rules for drones, which will take effect in June of 2019.   The new rules require more training, licensing and registration, and specify which drones may be used for “advanced operations.”  As always, the devil is in the details: and the list of approved equipment …