Planning to fly a drone during the FIFA World Cup 2026? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has just released a list of locations where that could become a very expensive mistake, with unauthorized operators facing penalties of up to $100,000 and possible criminal prosecution.

The company behind Pokémon Go is making a major bet on drones and artificial intelligence. Niantic Spatial, the spinoff from the creator of the global mobile gaming phenomenon Pokémon Go, has partnered with Spexi, which bills itself as the world’s largest decentralized drone imagery network, to build detailed 3D maps of the real world that could help train the next generation of AI systems and robots.

For years, millions of Americans who use DJI drones have been hearing the same warning on repeat: these drones could be a national security threat. Now, DJI has fired back with what may become one of the most explosive documents in the entire US drone ban debate.

Washington’s fight over Chinese drones is no longer just a national security debate happening inside congressional hearing rooms. For thousands of Americans, it’s becoming a deeply personal issue tied to jobs, emergency response, roof inspections, farming operations, photography businesses, and even search-and-rescue missions.

The professional drone industry has spent years chasing a simple goal: making one drone capable of handling many different missions without sending operators back to the workshop every time they need a new tool. Now, UK drone provider Coptrz says it’s bringing exactly that capability to British operators through a new exclusive partnership with Norway’s Tundra Drone.

Washington may want America to move beyond DJI, but one big question keeps hanging over the debate: who can realistically replace the company’s affordable, widely used drones at the same scale?

As police departments across the US rapidly expand drone programs, one challenge is becoming harder to ignore: crowded low-altitude airspace. From authorized emergency-response drones to rogue aircraft flying near sensitive locations, agencies increasingly need better visibility into what’s happening overhead.

The City of Dallas is officially putting drones on the front lines of emergency response, and in some cases, they may arrive before police officers or firefighters do.

Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, is building an entirely new smart city designed around drones and flying transportation systems from day one.

As Australia moves closer to broader beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations, two companies are teaming up to help enterprises navigate what could become the country’s next major aviation shift. FlytBase and Yarra Drones have announced a partnership focused on helping businesses deploy compliant, scalable, and hardware-flexible autonomous drone programs across Australia.

Remember that terrifyingly huge Vecna drone show Netflix launched over Las Vegas? The aerial spectacle has now earned an official Guinness World Record for the largest fictional character formed by drones.

DJI is officially winding down support for two of its most popular smartphone gimbals: the Osmo Mobile 3 and DJI OM 4. And if you’re still using one of these devices to shoot TikToks, travel vlogs, YouTube videos, or family memories, this is one update you’ll want to pay attention to.

Drone food delivery company Flytrex is doubling down on Texas with a new drone manufacturing and maintenance facility near Dallas, signaling just how serious the company is about scaling aerial food deliveries across the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.

DJI is continuing its rapid push into enterprise drone software with another update to DJI Terra, and while version 5.2.5 may look modest at first glance, it actually addresses several workflow frustrations that professional drone operators deal with every day.

As drone delivery companies race to expand across American cities, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: better batteries may matter just as much as better drones. That’s the idea behind a new partnership between Matternet and Amprius Technologies, which aims to improve the range, efficiency, and economics of autonomous aerial delivery using advanced silicon-anode battery cells.

As low-cost attack drones continue reshaping modern warfare, Japanese drone company Terra Drone is now taking a major step deeper into the defense sector. The company has announced the operational deployment of its new fixed-wing interceptor drone, called Terra A2, in Ukraine — one of the world’s most intense real-world testing grounds for anti-drone technologies.

Autel Robotics claims that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is unfairly treating its drones like DJI products, even though the company says regulators have never presented evidence that Autel itself poses a security threat.

When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added DJI and Autel equipment to its Covered List, many drone operators feared the move could eventually turn thousands of perfectly functional aircraft into outdated, unsupported hardware. But in a decision released earlier this month, the agency quietly hit pause on what could have become a major operational and cybersecurity headache for the US drone industry.

As GPS jamming and spoofing become increasingly common in modern warfare, drone operators are running into a frustrating problem: the video feed may look perfectly clear, but the geographic coordinates tied to that footage can be wildly inaccurate. That issue can make precision targeting nearly impossible, a challenge defense companies are now calling “targeting paralysis.”

Texas-based fast-food chain Taco Bueno is officially joining the growing drone delivery movement, teaming up with Zipline to bring fresh Tex-Mex meals to customers by air.

DJI is taking its pocket-sized camera lineup in a much more cinematic direction. At the Cannes Film Festival this week, the company unveiled the new DJI Osmo Pocket 4P to a global audience, positioning it less as a creator gadget and more as a legitimate filmmaking tool for documentaries, indie productions, and professional storytelling.

Insta360 is leaning hard into vintage-camera nostalgia with its new GO 3S Retro Bundle, and honestly, it might be the coolest tiny camera launch of the year.

For years, scaling drone operations has largely meant one thing: buying more docks. Whether it’s public safety agencies launching Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs or utility companies inspecting power lines, the formula has been fairly straightforward, with each drone typically needing its own dedicated dock. But according to California-based drone company SiFly Aviation, that approach becomes expensive and inefficient pretty quickly once operations start growing. Now, the company says it has a better idea.

If DJI and Autel Robotics drones truly pose an immediate national security threat, then why are thousands of them still flying over America every single day?