Ishveena Singh

Tech giant DJI says it has become the first drone manufacturer in the world to receive the Class C1 type certificate under the new European drone regulation. DJI has been granted this certificate for the Mavic 3 drone series.

Autel Robotics is readying to release six EVO II V3 drones, the company’s recent FCC filings indicate. Moreover, two new drone controllers are also being prepped for release.

DroneShield has released the latest version of its DroneSentry-C2 Command-and-Control counter-drone software. The company is calling v8.0.0 a “major update” since it contains new sensor integrations as well as performance and security improvements including patches for zero-day vulnerabilities and bug fixes.

Dronedek has found a new partner to make its drone delivery mailbox offering more secure. The Indiana-based company says it is teaming up with facial recognition provider Scylla so that its smart delivery mailbox can be unlocked as easily as a cellphone.

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), an electric utility that serves more than 12 million people in Florida, says its $1.2 million FPLAir One drone is ready for primetime. The launch of the FPLAir One, the utility adds, is a milestone in itself because no other uncrewed aircraft of its size has ever been used before for commercial purposes outside of an FAA test site.

Update: DJI Avata is available to buy now from DJI’s online store and Amazon.

A popular reseller of DJI products has listed a whole bunch of accessories on its website that it says are compatible with the yet-to-be-released Avata drone and the accompanying FPV Goggles 2.

Scientific Applications & Research Associates (SARA) has sued drone delivery company Zipline in a California court, claiming that Zipline’s new acoustics-based drone detection and avoidance (DAA) system violates a patent covering SARA’s technology.

Remember how Hyundai Motor Group was so impressed by the robot dogs and humanoid bots developed by Boston Dynamics that it decided to acquire a majority stake in the robotics firm in 2020? Well, the two companies are now ready to take their relationship to the next level with the formation of the Boston Dynamics AI Institute.

A Texas man has been charged for allegedly flying a DJI Inspire drone loaded with drugs and other contraband into a Fort Worth prison.

Update: DJI Avata is available to buy now from DJI’s online store and Amazon.

DJI’s FPV Goggles V2 with digital image transmission are now available at 25% off the typical retail price. This price drop has presumably been done in preparation for the rumored release of the DJI Avata CineWhoop-style mini FPV drone.

Gremsy, one of the most popular developers of camera gimbal stabilizers for drones, has announced its latest product, the Aevo heavy-lift carbon gimbal. According to the company, Aevo comes with the highest payload capacity ever (9kg) for industrial applications.

NASA has awarded a small business grant to the University of Cincinnati (UC) to develop better autonomous navigation for drones.

An Arizona-based startup has invented technology that will allow drones to carry advertising billboards in the sky even in blowing wind.

As it prepares to bring free Prime Air drone deliveries to customers in California and Texas, Amazon is offering an inside look at how its drone delivery system works. A new video released by the company shows rigorous flight tests being conducted at one of its facilities in Oregon.

Autel Robotics has released new firmware for its EVO Lite and EVO Nano drones. The updates, which are being rolled out with v1.4.20 (iOS) and v1.4.26 (Android) of the Autel Sky app, are packed with some of the most-requested features to the drone series, including easily-accessible flight logs, voice notification options, as well as an increase to the maximum flight distance.

Commercial drone solutions specialist A2Z Drone Delivery has announced its second-generation automated delivery winch, RDS2 (Rapid Delivery System 2). The company says its latest product offers the highest payload capacity (22 pounds) of any tethered delivery system on the market, and also eliminates the need for specialty payload boxes.

Cargo drone manufacturer Windracers, which counts the British Royal Mail among its partners, has won its third round of funding from the Future Flight challenge at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The fresh capital will help Windracers to further middle-mile drone delivery trials and regulatory work with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Drone start-up SkyeBrowse, whose reality capture platform allows DJI and Autel users to create accurate 3D models at the press of a button, has launched a new, upgraded version of its proprietary software: Hyper.

DJI has just rolled out the latest version of its Mimo smartphone app for Android and iOS devices. While the update is focused primarily on fixing minor issues and optimizing the overall app quality, Mimo is now formally bidding adieu to Android 7 and iOS 11.

Update: DJI Avata is available to buy now from DJI’s online store and Amazon.

For the umpteenth time, DJI’s mini FPV drone, Avata, is in the limelight ahead of its official announcement. In the latest leaks, DJI Avata has been caught on camera up close, with one photo revealing the box the drone could come packed in. Another critical detail about the CineWhoop-style drone that has emerged from the fresh leaks is that it could be equipped with DJI AirSense technology.

At 8,611 meters (28,251 feet) above sea level, K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth. But with a death rate of over 25 percent, the technically challenging mountain is considered to be much more dangerous than Mount Everest. Meanwhile, British photographer Sandro Gromen-Hayes has not only summited the K2, but he also flew his DJI Air 2S drone at the top to record one of the best mountain footage you will ever see.