The largely productive year for the drone sector is drawing to a close with the less fortunate news that trailblazing North Carolina startup PrecisionHawk has filed for bankruptcy, and is shuttering the business.
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PrecisionHawk, one of the first US drone businesses to raise big VC money, has been scooped up by European technology company Field. The acquisition gives Norway-based Field a foothold in the US and plans are in place to operate PrecisionHawk under the Field brand name by the end of the year.
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Drone company PrecisionHawk is joining forces with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) to upskill the latter’s Part 107 drone pilot members. PrecisionHawk wants to teach NRECA drone operators how to inspect electricity transmission and distribution assets more safely and efficiently across the United States.
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PrecisionHawk has announced a multiyear alliance with American Tower to make cell tower inspections safer and more efficient. PrecisionHawk will hand over its AI-backed cell tower inspection software to American Tower to use on upcoming inspections.
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Yesterday PrecisionHawk was awarded two US patents for technology it developed for its unmanned traffic management (UTM) system. The two patents allow drones and manned aircraft to avoid each other while in flight.
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PrecisionHawk raises $32M for the next generation of drone software and services, according to a press release issued by the drone startup.
Co-founder and former chief technology officer of DroneBase, Eli Tamanaha, is joining PrecisionHawk as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives reporting directly to CEO Michael Chasen. An interesting move for sure and one that the company says “underscores PrecisionHawk’s position as the vanguard of aerial intelligence that drives operational insights and as a drone industry pioneer.”
A commercial drone pilot from Rhode Island was making $2,000 a day back in 2015. Now he only gets about $175 dollars per day for the same work. Ever since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) started to allow commercial drone flights the unmanned aerial devices have come down in price while at the same time their capabilities have improved and the competition has increased tremendously resulting in dramatically lower prices. Noticeably, the new competition is not only from other smaller players but increasingly from large companies such as General Electric, Intel Corp., Verizon Communications and other well-funded startups like PrecisionHawk and Airware.
