As autonomous drones transition from pilot projects to everyday business tools, one of the industry’s biggest virtual events is set to showcase how organizations are making that shift at scale.
NestGen ’26, billed as the world’s largest online summit dedicated to drone autonomy, returns on September 29, bringing together more than 50 speakers and participants from over 70 countries. The event will focus on how autonomous drone systems are being deployed across industries including oil and gas, public safety, mining, ports, utilities, transportation, and security.
Rather than focusing on future concepts, this year’s conference is centered on practical lessons from organizations already running autonomous drone programs in the field.
Among the biggest presentations, Shell will discuss how it built an autonomous drone program for a floating offshore facility, offering insights into inspections and monitoring in remote, high-risk environments. Texas Instruments will explain how it is pairing autonomous drones with robotic dogs to strengthen security around semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
Transportation infrastructure is another major theme. Representatives from LA Metro and Dutch Railways will share how they’re using autonomous drones to monitor rail corridors and improve perimeter security across sprawling transit networks.
The mining sector will also be represented, with SQM discussing how autonomous drones helped increase iodine production in Chile’s Atacama region by connecting aerial operations with measurable production outcomes. Meanwhile, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and Skyports will outline lessons learned from deploying autonomous drones in busy port environments.
Although these industries face very different challenges, many share similar questions: How do you earn a return on investment? What does it take to secure beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) approvals? And how can AI enable one operator to manage multiple autonomous drones safely and efficiently?
According to FlytBase Founder and CEO Nitin Gupta, the industry has reached a stage where real-world operating experience has become one of its most valuable assets. “We’ve reached a point where there is an incredible amount of operating knowledge within this ecosystem,” Gupta says. “People have experiences to share, decisions they’ve made, and things they’ve learned the hard way.”
NestGen ’26 will be held online with sessions tailored for audiences across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, giving drone professionals around the world an opportunity to learn how autonomous operations are moving from experimentation to everyday reality.
More: DJI Mimo app gets new tricks for photos, videos, and sharing
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments