DJI Stories February 19
More stories of drones doing good this week! On Monday afternoon, a 15-year-old girl who was stranded on the ice of Lake Michigan was rescued successfully after being located with the help of a drone. Members of the Park Township Fire Department deployed a drone (a DJI Mavic 2 it seems based on the photos) to locate the girl. She was found at the bottom of a ledge about 1,000 feet offshore west of the observation deck on the shore of the Idlewood Beach neighborhood.
DJI Stories February 5
Today, the South China Morning Post had an interesting story about how DJI went from a dorm project to ultimately global drone domination in a very short time. The Shenzhen-based company generated total sales of 2.7 billion USD in 2017, an 80% jump versus the previous year, making Frank Wang Tao the founder of the drone manufacturer, the youngest Chinese billionaire.
DJI Stories January 31
In an open letter, DJI pledges to take ‘painful’ steps to ‘eliminate these problems’, referring to the widespread corruption that was discovered by DJI during routine audits late in 2018. The uncovered corruption adds up to a total loss of $150M, but it may only be ‘the tip of the iceberg’, according to the drone maker. Dozens of employees have been fired or turned in to local law enforcement. In the letter, DJI explains that in the past the company has ’emphasized corporate growth over new internal processes,’ but that it will need to take ‘a leading role in developing clear policies, procedures and expectations to address corner-cutting and employee theft’ in order to become a mature company. You can read their entire statement below.
DJI Stories January 18
China’s largest drone maker, DJI faces a $150 million dollar loss after a large number of employees committed fraud in a series of corruption cases. The company is currently investigating inflated product prices in their supply chain. So far, 16 people have been reported to the authorities.
We have reached out to DJI for their official response to this story. The Chinese drone maker told us that they will be sending out an official statement as soon as possible. Update – DJI issued an official response. See below for details.
DJI Stories January 15
DJI and AUVSI kick off second annual XCELLENCE Humanitarian Awards
Last year, AUVSI and DJI held the inaugural XCELLENCE Humanitarian Awards during the AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018 in Denver, CO. Five organizations that use drones for critical life-saving missions shared the award. This year DJI and AUVSI have teamed up again to kick off the second annual XCELLENCE Humanitarian Awards. The submission period is now open. See below for details.
DJI Stories January 14
DJI welcomes proposed rules for drone flights at night and over people
After recently welcoming the new rules in Canada and in the UK, DJI issued an official statement today, saying that the Chinese drone maker welcomes the proposed rules for drone flights at night and over people. You can read the complete statement below.
