Bruce Crumley is journalist and writer who has worked for Fortune, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, and was Paris correspondent and bureau chief for Time magazine specializing in political and terrorism reporting. He splits his time between Paris and Biarritz, and is the author of novel Maika‘i Stink Eye.
Consumer electronics giant Sony has announced the release of its new Camera Remote Software Development Kit (SDK) version, which allows users to broaden and tailor features on the company’s image-capturing devices, including those mounted on its Airpeak drones.
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The delivery division of UK drone services and advanced air mobility infrastructure company Skyports has been selected to operate aerial distribution routes between Scotland’s Orkney islands for the national postal company, Royal Mail.
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The drone unit of the Devon and Cornwall Police department has begun using DJI craft to combat dangerous driving in what they call the first use of UAVs for road safety enforcement in England or Wales.
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Drone manufacturing and transport company SkyDrop has taken major steps closer to launching New Zealand’s first aerial food delivery service, receiving regulatory approvals from the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
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Canadian drone and UAV systems developer Draganfly is continuing its business expansion drive through a new partnership with Australian specialized communications solutions company CODAN Communications.
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Advanced air mobility company REGENT has gotten a boost in its effort to market its electric seaglider as a more affordable and efficient alternative to next-generation aircraft designed to operate from ground terminals, with investments from US defense giant Lockheed Martin and Japanese freight and logistics firm Yamato Holdings.
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It isn’t every day that a tech start-up comes out of stealth mode in the midst of a war threatening the very existence of its host country, but Kyiv-based One Way Aerospace is doing just that by unveiling its work to provide Ukraine with a range of affordable yet effective drone munition systems.
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Three semi-autonomous uncrewed marine drones have set sail from Honolulu for a six-month mission collecting data off the coasts of Hawaii’s larger islands to measure the acidic effects of climate change on nearshore oceanic environments.
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Automated drone company Flyby has announced a pair of significant developments in its business expansion plans, with a launch of aerial food delivery activities coinciding with a $4 million infusion of seed financing.
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Ohio-based drone data-collection company Event 38 has successfully contributed to another of its aerial challenge projects, this time deploying its UAVs to complete full maps of two Turks and Caicos islands in just two days.
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Aerial defense and security specialist Insitu has had strong demand for its Integrator data-gathering reconnaissance and intelligence drone, and has now found something of a hack to satisfy clients wanting to operate the fixed-wing craft as a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTOL) – even from tight spaces like the decks of Navy ships.
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German air taxi developer and urban air mobility (UAM) company Volocopter has opened its first complete aircraft production facility, which it plans to kick into full operation later this month.
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Drone data-gathering company Phoenix Air Unmanned (PAU) has received a nation-wide waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration to use Flyfree’s Alta X UAVs during beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) powerline infrastructure inspection missions for clients.
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All startups developing next generation air taxis and longer distance advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft face a wide range of technical, engineering, and production challenges as they guide planes toward certification, but German company Liliumnow finds itself wrestling with increasingly tight financial reserves that better funded rivals do not.
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Drone detection, identification, and mitigation tech specialist Dedrone has introduced its City-Wide data network and UAV reference base that provides users real-time monitoring capabilities of airspaces in nearly 40 cities across the US.
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South Korean air taxi and longer-range advanced air mobility (AAM) company Plana has been expanding its business footprint of late, and as part of that is opening offices in the US to facilitate the certification process of its next-generation aircraft.
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Healthcare provider Michigan Medicine says it plans to more than double the number of prescriptions its in-house pharmacy fills each year by using the new quick drone delivery system Zipline revealed last month.
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In a development that will please pilots sick of being harassed by drone-hating antagonists, a man in the UK now awaits sentencing for having brandished a gun while accosting a real estate agent doing aerial work near his home.
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In a move likely to send millions of previously disinterested people rushing to get their hands on a drone – or conversely expand the ranks of those demanding a universal ban on all UAVs – a contributor to Reddit has generated much amused commentary with his modification of a DJI craft to simulate a pigeon defecating on objects from on high.
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UK aerial surveying specialist Plowman Craven has produced a drone data collection solution specifically designed for owners and operators of rail networks across the nation and globe – including lines where physical access to infrastructure isn’t feasible.
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Advanced air mobility company Vertical Aerospace has announced several significant developments in its work advancing its VX4 aircraft toward air taxi service, including reception of what it says is the first Design Organization Approval issued by UK regulators for a passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL).
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In another setback to global drone giant DJI’s efforts to keep its consumer and enterprise products from being used in the conflict provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials in Kyiv said this week a small army of 300 Mavic 3T UAVs had been procured and sent to the eastern front in the space of just a few days.
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It has long been rumored that after fighting off the brutal winter offense Moscow has waged since the New Year’s holiday, Ukraine plans on unleashing a spring onslaught against Russian forces in the east – which, if it occurs, may feature thousands of explosive-packed FPV drones.
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Air taxi developer EHang is closing out March with a pair of announcements on its activities preparing for future advanced air mobility (AAM), including news its unpiloted passenger craft has entered the final phase of certification with China’s regulators.
EHang reported on the progress of its EH216-S air taxi in a communiqué on its 2022 financial results. In it the company said the craft had entered “the final phase of Demonstration and Verification of Compliance” with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). It also suggested the vehicle might have advanced even closer toward final type certification (TC) if it hadn’t been for considerable disruptions caused by COVID-19 peaks in the country.
Read: Archer, United announce air taxi link between Chicago and O’Hare
In describing progress of EH216-S testing, EHang said “more than 90% of the entire TC process has been completed, which is believed to be the fastest progress among all TC projects of electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) aircraft worldwide.”
EHang added it had received over 100 orders for the future air taxi from customers in China, and that it continues adding to its over 34,000 test flights of the craft already made around the globe.
“At present, several EH216-S conforming aircraft, which were manufactured in EHang’s Yunfu production facility, have successfully passed the manufacturing conformity inspection by CAAC and are undergoing required compliance tests at flight bases in Guangzhou and Hezhou as well as laboratories in other locations,” the company said. “Based on the CAAC-agreed compliance test plans, more than 70% of tests have been or will be completed soon, including laboratory tests, ground tests and inspections, flight tests and data analysis.”
Read: EHang air taxi aids European testing of UAM air traffic projects
This week EHang also announced the successful completion of testing of an autonomous airborne beacon designed to improve positioning information on drones and AAM craft like air taxis.
The company said the year-long BAUD project with Spain’s Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies and government ministries had been wrapped up with all objectives met. The system uses the UAV-transported beacon to interface with positioning platforms like Global Navigation Satellite Systems, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, and Galileo to communicate information on drone and AAM craft status, remote identification information, and other tactical data to surrounding U-Space operators.
“We are delighted to announce the successful completion of the BAUD project, achieving all of its goals and objectives,” said Victoria Xiang, EHang chief operating officer for Europe and Latin America. “EHang welcomes public-private partnership opportunities for research, development, and investment in the UAS field in Spain. This has encouraged EHang to execute several innovation projects, share EHang’s world-leading technology and extensive international experience on Urban Air Mobility, and strengthen our wide technological collaboration network in Europe.”