Bruce Crumley

The world’s leading drone maker, DJI, is among eight Chinese companies set to be added to official US government blacklists Thursday, according to a Financial Times report. The development risks compounding woes the company has experienced in the US over allegations of involvement in the repression of minority Uighurs by China’s government.

California-based drone manufacturer Skydio is giving shoppers who missed the company’s Black Friday mega-sale a second chance by again offering its virtually crash-proof Skydio 2 drone at a steeply reduced $949.

Might processed wood become a power source replacement for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles like drones and cars? Despite the skepticism of many scientists, one Japanese paper company thinks trees have the potential to do just that.

Swedish UAV services company Aerit has been tapped to conduct trial drone deliveries around the large Norrtälje area to the north of Stockholm. The move comes just two months after Aerit successfully flew its first beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) delivery mission – just the second ever in the country.

Britain has been energetic in its pursuit of emerging UAV operations and services as a major driver of innovation and economic activity. Yet business leaders are warning that unresolved certification details in the wake of Brexit may seriously hamstring the UK just as the drone-driven future is set to take off.

The introduction of drones in monitoring fishing fleets in Iceland has uncovered a far vaster occurrence of the illicit, environmentally damaging practice of dumping unwanted catches back into the ocean than officials had suspected.

UK defense and transportation giant BAE Systems says it is making a multimillion-dollar investment in its electric propulsion facility in New York to broaden its focus from buses and marine vehicles to urban air mobility (UAM) and other electric aircraft.

Drone delivery company Wing has resumed service to an area north of Canberra nearly two months after territorial ravens grounded its UAVs with repeated aerial assaults.

With only two weeks left before Christmas, DroneDJ figured it was time to make another round of the main sites selling drones and take note of any nice sale prices still to be had. What follows is our best-of list of discounts still out there with only 14 shopping days left.

Following a year of up-and-down news, Archer Aviation this week gave itself something to smile about with the introduction of its Maker electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) demonstration aircraft. That, and its recent receipt of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Special Airworthiness Certificate, will enable its first hover test flights later this month – and the promise of going out of 2021 on a high note.

Parrot, a leading maker of drones in Europe and the US, has announced its new ANAFI Ai enterprise craft is available for pre-order through selected resellers. The pre-tax price for one of the G4 connected vehicles is listed as $4,000, and somewhat dearer at €4,000 in Europe.

Leading urban air mobility (UAM) craft and infrastructure company Volocopter has unveiled its VoloPort concept that it says will serve as a reference for – or itself be adopted in use as – the vertiports enabling future operation of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL).

For all those first responders out there who’ve been a bit tardy in taking advantage of a nice opportunity, here’s good news. Connecticut-based UAV tech, cloud, and software solutions provider Aquiline Drones has announced it is extending its offer to provide free pilot training and education to emergency and rescue workers for another six months.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has taken another stride toward the routine use of drones for passenger aircraft inspection. It’s transforming its previously exploratory relationship with UAV service provider Mainblades into a multi-year partnership that aims to develop the automated process into a regular part of airline maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) activity.

Hard-charging Australian drone delivery and logistics company Swoop Aero has been granted beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) authorization to transport medical supplies in the northeast state of Queensland.

Innovating startup Electric Sky is working on an energy transmitter to beam power to both single and swarms of drones in flight, and has now been backed by a grant from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

San Francisco-based airspace security specialist Dedrone is teaming up with European telecommunications company Swisscom Broadcast to provide clients protection from invasive drones.

A major Swiss update of a previously developed robot has yielded a car, quadruped, humanoid delivery vehicle that may rival aerial drones in getting goods to destinations – apart from the flying trick, that is.

It’s not a drone, but its University of California Riverside inventors say it is robotic: a film powered by light, capable of being configured to soak up oil spills in the ocean or contaminating liquids from freshwater supplies. It’s therefore non-dronishly cool enough to write about here.

One of the most burning questions DroneDJ readers have is also one most pilots are eventually confronted with: What’s the best way of flying drones to observe wild elephants without disturbing them? Thanks to researchers, the world now has the answer.

Professional UAV pilot Geoff Watkins has accomplished something beyond merely transforming his passion for droning into a gainful career. His recent work at the controls has produced a tool that will be passed down through history: a precise, drone-generated digital model of a 1,000-year-old Norman castle.