Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at DroneDJ, where he covers all drone-related news and writes product reviews. He also contributes to the other sites in the 9to5Mac group such as; 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, and Electrek.
Haye can be reached at haye@dronedj.com or @hayekesteloo
In the just-leaked photos of the new DJI Mavic Air 2, one image stands out. And that is the one that shows the name MAVIC on the bottom or belly of this new foldable DJI drone. Does this photo indicate that DJI is moving away from the name DJI Mavic Air in favor of the more straightforward name DJI Mavic? I think so, and I will explain why.
Finally! Some really exciting DJI news today as we show you leaked images of what must be the new DJI Mavic Air 2. This new drone in the DJI Mavic lineup is rumored to be introduced in April this year. As you can see in the photos, the drone looks very similar to the DJI Mavic 2 series.
Update: New photo shows rear obstacle avoidance sensors.
Today the WSJ published an article in which they talk about how various technologies are being used by countries to fight the Coronavirus. Readers of DroneDJ will already know that drones have been used in a number of ways, varying from drones outfitted with loudspeakers to communicate to people to modified DJI Agras T16 aircraft to help spray disinfectants. This article briefly covers how drones are used to spot people who might have the Coronavirus and that a drone carrying 2.5 gallons of disinfectant can spray up to 105,000 square feet, which is about the size of a typical Walmart store.
As predicted last week, DJI released the RoboMaster EP on March 9th. This is DJI’s second educational robot and it is compatible with multi-party hardware, supports multiple software platforms, and has an open SDK.
Spanish Quaternium sets a drone flight time record of eight hours and ten minutes, almost one hour longer than the previous record. Watch the short video below in which the police from Benidorm, Spain explains the value of such long flight times.
The environmentalist group Black Warrior Riverkeeper is concerned about a new drone bill In the Alabama House of Representatives.
In this short video, we learn that mothers have started to use DJI Phantom drones to search for missing children in the ‘killing fields’ of Mexico. In the municipality, Salinas Victoria in Northern Mexico, Laticia Hildalgo has been looking for her missing son, Roy for almost a decade and has yet to find him.
The Chinese government is using surveying, mapping, and delivery drones to enforce the world’s largest quarantine in order to try to contain the coronavirus. Industrial drones have been modified by government agencies and drone manufacturers to try to keep an estimated 50 million residents indoors across a dozen Chinese cities.
In the past we have already seen some creative ways in which photographers used drones to  light their subjects. Today we see some quite amazing photos from Czech photographer Jiri Kralovec who used a DJI Phantom drone to light his athletes and take some really nice sports portraits.
Still no winner for the $1 million GoFly Prize that would be awarded to the team that comes up with a groundbreaking personal flying device or drone. During last week’s final fly-off none of the five competitors was able to meet the demanding conditions for the prize.
Parrot, the leading European drone group, and Survae, the leading software platform for managing aerial and ground-based imagery, launched a partnership through Parrot’s SDK program to combine Parrot’s ANAFI and ANAFI Thermal hardware and Survae’s software for professional drone use.
One of the bigger drone expos each year is InterDrone. This year the show will take place From August 18th through 21st in Dallas Texas. And the registration for InterDrone 2020 is now officially open. Sign up now to enjoy the super-early-bird pricing.
It seems that DJI is about to introduce a new DJI RoboMaster soon. Today, DJI leaks photos that show parts of this new educational, modular and remote-controlled device. No drone, it seems. Sorry. It is rumored that the release date for this new DJI product is March 9th.
Dave Messina, President of the FPV Freedom Coalition explains the consequences of FAA’s NPRM Remote ID if it is implemented as proposed. On the website from the FPV Freedom Coalition, you can find more information on the NPRM, how it will impact your hobby as an R/C or drone pilot, as well as read the official comments that the FPVFC submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The video interview was recorded last week and published today by The Drone U.
Note: if you have missed your chance to submit your comments before the March 2 deadline, be sure to (snail) mail the FAA. It is very likely that your comments will still be accepted.
As the industry for self-driving cars, robots and other unmanned vehicles quickly evolves — and engineers work to overcome the limitations of sensors that use visual, infrared or thermal information — math experts at Purdue University and the Technical University of Munich have proven there’s another, equally viable solution: using sound.
Drones with ‘detect and avoid’ tech are being tested in Blacksburg, Virginia. One of the unmanned aircraft is a fixed-wing, NASA-operated Tempest drone. The other one is a more traditional quadcopter carrying a special box. The two drones are set on a collision course, but before actually colliding the quadcopter should autonomously detect and avoid the fixed-wing drone.
We know that ZeroZero Robotics and DJI have had to close their offices as a result of the Coronavirus spreading in China. The assumption was that other drone manufacturers such as Autel Robotics would have been impacted as well and that as a result the Autel EVO II might be delayed.
The world’s largest drone manufacturer, DJI calculates the real cost of the Remote ID Rule to be $5.6 billion USD (yes with a ‘B’) instead of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) estimated $582 million USD. Nine times more over a ten year period than the FAA estimate. Guess who’s going to pay for that… the consumer, i.e. you.
With well over 50,000 comments on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NPRM for Remote ID for Drones, the agency has its work cut out. The exact number of comments as of yesterday was 50,847, but this will likely increase once the site has been updated. Obviously, the FAA will have to process and read the comments first, some people have submitted multi-page comments, but the obvious question is, What happens next? Vic Moss shared this document from the Federal Register’s website that shines some light on the next steps in the rule-making process.
Note: even though the official commenting period has ended and you can no longer submit your comments online if you still want to provide your comments to the FAA you can try sending them in by regular mail. It is likely that the FAA will still consider them if they arrive within a reasonable time.
As we are getting nearer to spring and hopefully better drone-flying weather, DJI has quietly lowered the price on the Mavic 2 Pro (DJI, Amazon) and Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 (DJI, Amazon). Both drones can now be bought at the official DJI online store for $1,599. That is some welcome news for sure!
Yesterday, protesters in Washington, D.C. told the Federal Aviation Administration in no uncertain terms that they were very, very unhappy with the proposed rules for Remote ID for Drones (and model R/C aircraft). A large number of people braved the cold weather and made it out to the FAA’s headquarters with signs saying: “If we build it, let it fly.”
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Remote ID for Drones is a ‘giant middle finger to aviation hobbyists’ is the title of this article from ARS Technica. And even though we (DroneDJ) are pro Remote ID for Drones, albeit not in the overreaching and expensive way the FAA is currently proposing, we do agree with ARS Technica wholeheartedly. The current proposed rules will likely destroy the model aircraft and drone hobby so many people enjoy.
DJI tracks the number of people that have been saved with the help of drones and the last time I have heard that number it was well over 300 people. To help spread the news of drones doing good and helping our society a new Facebook group has recently been launched by L. Donauer. DroneDJ was one of the first members to come on board and help push this initiative. Throughout the year stories of drones doing good will be posted on this page and once a year a special event will be organized to promote Drones for GOOD. This year that day will be June 7th. Please be sure to check out, like, share and follow this page on Facebook and support it if you feel the same way we do, that drones can make a difference for the better and make our world a better place!
If you feel that leaving a comment on this website is not enough to express your concerns with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about their proposed rules for Remote ID for Drones you can join the friendly and peaceful protests at the FAA headquarters in Washington D.C. today and tomorrow.
