Yesterday, DJI already release this statement in reaction to the Department of the Interior’s new drone order. Today the Chinese drone maker elaborates further and explains why the DOI drone order is an “an alarming, politically driven decision that puts lives and property at risk.”
After temporarily grounding its fleet of drones last year, the U.S. Interior Department grounded its drone fleet after issuing an order today to formally adopt a no-fly rule aimed at drones made in China or with Chinese parts. Exceptions will be made for those situations in which drones are needed to respond to natural disasters or other emergencies.
It seems that DJI is finally getting a break from concerns that various government agencies have expressed about the security of the data captured by DJI’s drones. After an independent 15-month testing program that included thousands of drone flights with models such as the DJI Mavic Pro and DJI Matrice 600 Pro, the Department of the Interior (DoI) has validated and approved the DJI Government Edition.
When the DoI started testing in April 2018, the newer Mavic 2 Pro, Zoom and Enterprise Edition had not yet hit the market, so were not included in the test. DJI told DroneDJ that testing has not yet started on the newer Mavic 2 drones, as the Mavic Pro and Matrice 600 tests have just been finished.
See DJI’s press statement below for all the details.
DJI has sent out two important messages today in response to the growing concerns among U.S. government officials about data security. It is not the first time that these concerns have raised their heads. We first reported on this back in 2017, but recently, and because of the intensifying trade ware between the U.S. and China, the concerns about DJI drones possibly sending sensitive data back to mainland China have come back in focus. DJI is now responding with two messages and a Youtube video. The Chinese drone maker is introducing a DJI Government Edition and is setting the “record straight on incorrect speculation presented during U.S Senate hearing“. We will post DJI’s messages first before reporting on these matters in greater detail. This is part 1 of 3. Stay tuned.
