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
Singapore wants in on the rapidly developing drone industry. The areas of interest are the driverless cars, delivery drone, and drone-taxis. Like Dubai, Singapore is interested in transforming the way good and products are moving around the city. Airbus is also testing drone-taxis, as we reported on before.
Last week we had a really windy day on the Hudson River, which ended up being a great opportunity to test the DJI Mavic Air.
The wind on the river is always very gusty as it comes in over the hills on the other side. This time it was a steady 20-25 mph, gusting to 30 mph. Especially where we were positioned, the winds get pushed up over the shoreline and condos behind us.
Only two years ago at CES in Las Vegas, Ehang promised to deliver an autonomous, passenger-carrying taxi-drone and in a video released by Ehang today, it shows that they have. Over the last couple of months, Ehang has conducted over 1,000 test flights with human passengers on board. In the video below they even show how they send their company officials for a test flight in the Ehang 184.
Last week we tried to fly the new DJI Mavic Air as far as we could over the Hudson River. We maxed out the Wi-Fi connection of the Mavic Air drone at around 6,500 feet or 1.24 miles. Some of our readers had pointed out that flying at a low altitude (we flew at 110 feet) would have reduced our range. So this past weekend, we tried again.
The new and now much more affordable OSMO Mobile 2 is available for purchase for $129 at the DJI online store as of today. We first reported on the new OSMO Mobile 2 on January 3rd, well ahead of its introduction at CES 2018.
Good Monday! Here are the headlines you may have missed as well as our first own short film; “Fly Away”. Almost entirely shot on the DJI Mavic Air. Hope you will enjoy it!
Furthermore, we will be uploading two more video’s today. One high-wind test for the Mavic Air and another max distance or range test but this time at a higher altitude. Maybe that will make a difference?
Another day, another rumor? Well, today we have a few rumors for you. They cover the DJI Mavic Pro 2, the Phantom 5, the Inspire 3 and an all-new fixed-wing VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) drone for industrial purposes.
Dan Nainan and I made this short film to show off the first customer-owned Tesla Model 3 on the East Coast and the new DJI Mavic Air.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is launching an investigation into a drone pilot looping his or her unmanned aerial vehicle over a passenger jet landing at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. It is unknown when this incident took place, but whoever was flying this drone, could face stiff fines and even criminal charges as it is illegal to fly a drone near an airport. Let alone this close over a landing passenger jet, endangering the lives of the people on board that plane.
This video is not the first drone incident we report on but it sure is the most reckless video we have seen.
In cold and somewhat damp weather we tried to achieve the maximum flight distance advertised by DJI. They claim that the DJI Mavic Air should be able to achieve a maximum flight distance (or range) of 2.4 miles. In our real-life test, we did not get further than 1.24 miles. At around 5,500 feet we started losing the Wi-Fi connection. The connection got worse and at 6,500 feet, I decided to turn around.
How well does the ActiveTrack functionality work on the DJI Mavic Air when the elevation changes? I biked over a hill to find out.
Good morning! Busy day today. I am trying to go to the Fan Day at the DJI store in NYC to see what is going on there. But not until I upload two new videos to YouTube. One is about an ActiveTrack test for the Mavic Air and the second one is a max distance test for DJI’s newest drone. So, stay tuned.
Exciting news this morning! We learned from a trusted source, that the mass production of the DJI Mavic Pro 2 is about to start. Last week we already reported that the rumor mill was spinning up for the DJI Mavic Pro 2 with some sources claiming the new foldable drone may be introduced as early as March 2018.
We also heard from several DJI officials during the launch of the Mavic Air in New York that it was going to be a busy year for DJI. Based on the information we were able to obtain, it sure seems that 2018 will be a very busy year indeed for the Chinese drone manufacturer. Apart from the Mavic Air, we expect DJI to introduce both the Mavic Pro 2 and the Phantom 5 this year.
Note: the image shows the production of the DJI Inspire, not the new Mavic Pro 2.
On the last day of January, DJI quietly removed Waypoints from the list of available Intelligent Flight Modes for the DJI Mavic Air. This has caused some people to cancel their orders for the newest DJI drone. It seems that DJI is still trying to figure out how to position the Mavic Air in between the Spark and the (upcoming) Mavic Pro (2). Presumingly there has to be a reason for people to upgrade to a more expensive drone and the availability (or lack thereof) of Waypoints may just be enough to move people over to a higher priced device. Losing the Waypoints feature is a shame as it helps you to focus on capturing the shot, while your drone automatically flies a preset flight path.
Good morning! Today we have a beautiful video of Mallorca. Especially if you have never been there… Grab a coffee and enjoy!
A quick post about another YouTube video that surfaced. In this short clip, the Mavic Air is compared to the Mavic Pro to see how far you can fly either drone. The test was performed over the Arizona desert away from any interference as you would have in an urban environment. Both drones performed very well with very good quality video-feed during the flight.
The Mavic Air flew to about 2 miles, which is further than what was reported in another video this week.
How does ActiveTrack exactly work on the DJI Mavic Air? Well, this video that just appeared on YouTube explains almost everything in detail. ActiveTrack allows you to have your drone follow and film you as walk, hike, run or in this case bike. Does ActiveTrack work in the same way as other drones from DJI? This video will answer most of your questions in great detail.
A drone revolution is happening in Africa. This may come as a surprise to most but Africa is leading the way in drone innovation. The lax regulation in most African countries means that new drone ideas and applications can be tried and tested quickly. Aljazeera investigated and looked at some of the most innovative drone concepts.
Good morning, yesterday we went to DJI’s head offices in NYC to pick up our DJI Mavic Air. We got the matte Onyx Black one and it looks really good. The design of the new drone is much better than the current Spark and Mavic Pro. It looks more sophisticated, sleeker and more aerodynamic. More photos and videos of this new baby will follow soon.
In a test on YouTube, the noise level of the new DJI Mavic Air was compared to the original Mavic Pro and the Mavic Pro Platinum Edition. Surprisingly the Mavic Air was the loudest of the three drones.
DJI launched a new “Free Trail Program” that will allow you to receive your DJI Mavic Air sooner through a special Mavic Air priority shipping code. The program is limited to 1,000 applicants and DJI will select an unspecified number of applicants who may get to keep their Mavic Air for free if they agree to a loaner agreement and perform certain tasks that are to be specified by DJI. You can apply here.
DJI released a new firmware update for the DJI Mavic Air drone. Version: v 1.0.1.0
Yesterday, a YouTuber was able to fly his new DJI Mavic Air drone up to a distance of 1.25 miles away from its take-off location in close to ideal circumstances. Impressive as this may seem, it falls well short of DJI’s advertised FCC range of 2.4 miles.
Researchers from the University of Zurich have found a way to let drones fly autonomously through the city without the unmanned aerial devices crashing into things.
Instead of outfitting the drones with ‘heavy’ sensors and radar or with power hungry GPU’s, the researchers preloaded the drones with data that was collected from cars and bicycles to help the drone understand the urban environment and to teach it how to fly autonomously through the city without crashing into other road users or buildings.