Out of nowhere, Skydio has just announced its jumping into the enterprise market with its new Skydio X2 industrial drone — the first of a planned series of products for this sector. The Skydio X2 line adds a FLIR thermal camera, a 360-degree camera, a flight time of 35 minutes, a folding design, 3D Scanner and oh dear lawd, a 100X zoom…
Expand Expanding Close
Chula Vista Police Department has received a special FAA approval in a first to fly drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) at a low altitude. The special FAA waiver has taken the police department months to get and resulted in the collaboration between Skydio and the San Diego UAS Integration Pilot Program.
Expand Expanding Close
Two major pieces of news in the drone world from Skydio today. First, the drone maker is officially announcing that Skydio 2 production has restarted since pausing for a few months during the COVID-19 shutdown. The super-smart Skydio 2 drone is once again available to order and shipping to customers.
The other announcement is the release of a significant software update for Skydio 2 drones. A new software update released today dramatically increases tracking range, flight features, and charging capabilities.
California-based Skydio makes one of the most talked-about but least seen drones on the market today. The Skydio 2 stands out for its impressive subject tracking, which basically allows it to fly autonomously while filming the subject of a video.
But the drone has been elusive. For one, the company has been overwhelmed with orders. It was already contending with a production backlog before the coronavirus hit. With the lockdowns that took effect in California in March, Skydio’s domestic production has been shuttered.
We are almost halfway into the year which has already had some significant new drone releases. How do these new drones compare to other hot models on the market? Let’s take a look at the latest offerings from DJI, Autel Robotics, and Skydio along with some models that are still going strong to identify the best consumer drones you can buy.
Public service drones have entered the popular consciousness as they are deployed more and more in the COVID-19 response. But local government agencies like police and fire departments have already been using drones to scout dangerous situations before sending people in. California-based drone maker Skydio has just launched a program to donate free drones for these operations.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Skydio, an American maker of enterprise and consumer drones, announced recently that it is currently unable to ship any models to customers. Based in California, Skydio is subject to COVID-19 stay-at-home lockdown orders and has been forced to close its manufacturing facilities.
Expand
Expanding
Close
With DJI being under fire from various angles (data security, tariffs, and new competition), Skydio is not sitting still. The Redwood City-based company has hired Brendan Groves to act as their new head of policy affairs to help “stretch the regulatory framework in ways it’s never been stretched,” to allow for new use cases for autonomous drones such as flying beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). Groves says it will be a good stretch, “like yoga for the regulatory system.”
Even though I agree with Groves, I wonder if the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is ready for some hot yoga stretching exercises. It seems that for now, the agency will have enough of a workout dealing with the almost 31,500 comments in reaction to their NPRM for Remote ID for Drones.
Skydio 2 is one of the most exciting drones to launch to date, with its fully autonomous flight capabilities and a great camera, allowing users to stay in the moment. One thing, it’s not available in Australia. Skydio 2 is a promising drone with a unique feature set, and will surely be a competitor to DJI’s Mavic series.
According to Skydio’s COO, Tom Moss “drones are the next generation of what cameras should be.” Moss, who previously worked in the smartphone business for Google, joined Skydio in 2018 after realizing that “phones have gotten kind of boring.”
With Skydio shipping the first orders of their autonomous Skydio 2 drone and yesterday’s news from Autel Robotics and their new Autel Evo 2 drone, it seems that DJI is finally facing some serious competition. According to a person familiar with the situation, the sudden and serious competition from Autel has hit the DJI consumer division “like an earthquake”. It left many DJI employees shaking their heads as they had no idea that the Autel Evo 2 was coming.
Your Skydio 2 is almost ready to ship! Ah… What a nice way to start the weekend! I (and many other lucky drone enthusiasts) just received an email from Skydio informing us that the first batch of Skydio 2 drones is being prepared to ship out. We’re super excited to get our hands on the second generation of fully autonomous flying drones from the American drone manufacturer. Here’s the email that Skydio just sent out.
Today, we have some exciting news for you from Drone Nerds. They are the largest enterprise drone dealer in the US and they just announced a new partnership with Skydio for the new and mind-blowing Skydio 2 drone. So, if you are thinking about getting the new Skydio 2 drone (And really you should. I ordered two myself) but you missed the boat at Skydio’s website. Make sure you check in with Drone Nerds in Florida as they may be able to help you out. And, if you are planning to go to Commercial UAV Expo this week, make sure that you go to the Drone Nerds booth 701 to see this new self-flying drone for yourself.
The brand-new Skydio 2 drone that was announced a few weeks ago is supposed to have an amazing warranty. Unlike other drones companies, Skydio will replace or repair your drone for free if it crashes. But as always, there is some fine print. I read it, so you don’t have to. I also got in touch with Skydio to clarify some of the details. Let’s see just how good this warranty really is. Spoiler alert: Don’t sell your Mavic just yet!
The Skydio 2 is undoubtedly the most exciting and the most important consumer drone of the year. Despite its groundbreaking capabilities, there are two features that the Skydio 2 is missing that the DJI Mavic drones ($1439-$1729) have. These two features give DJI an advantage in the eyes of many consumers. In this post, I’ll tell you why the Skydio 2 does not have folding arms and why the Skydio 2 doesn’t have any landing gear.
There is no doubt the Skydio 2 is going to be an exciting drone. It is most certainly an improvement over the original Skydio drone. Its autonomous flight modes are undoubtedly better than any DJI drone to date. But how will the camera stack up against the Mavic 2 series or the Phantom 4 Pro ($2199)? With a 1/2.3-inch sensor it can’t likely compete, right? After all, size matters. Or does it?
Expand
Expanding
Close
Skydio enters the commercial drone market with the Skydio 2 Dock, “a self-contained, weatherproof, charging base station for the Skydio 2 drone that enables truly persistent operations for enterprise applications.” Meaning, you can have this box sit outside at your construction lot, mining operation, or landfill and have the Skydio 2 fly autonomous missions regularly to map the location and update you on the progress of your building, your mining stockpiles, or the speed at which you’re filling up the landfill. Or at least in theory that would be possible. In reality, there are some regulatory hurdles that will need to be overcome first. Skydio’s announcement was made during the DroneDeploy Conference 2019 in San Francisco.
Skydio launched its latest drone, Skydio 2 earlier this week after months of sharing teasers. Skydio 2 is the perfect filming sidekick for any adventure or a commercial operation. GoPro’s Karma was a flawed attempt at creating a drone, what if GoPro and Skydio joined forces?
We just got an email from Skydio, and apparently, the first 2019 batch of Skydio 2s are already sold out. The initial batch is scheduled to be shipped well before the holidays. Congrats to those of you who reserved their Skydio 2 drone on time. For the ones who missed out, no worries. A second batch will be available to ship in January 2020. The new Skydio sells for $999 and can be bought with a Controller and a Skydio Beacon. Both sell for an additional $149 each.
If you have never experienced Skydio’s obstacle avoidance and self-flying capability, you’re in for a treat. The first time I hand-launched the original Skydio R1, I was blown away. The drone took off from my hand, flew about five feet away from me at a slightly higher elevation, turned around, “looked” at me, and simply followed my every move. It seemed eerily easy and natural for the unmanned aircraft to do so. This was with the R1, mind you, not the smaller, lighter, and much, much smarter Skydio 2 that launched earlier today. Let’s take a closer look at how the Skydio 2 drone is able to fly autonomously.
Finally, it is here! The all-new and vastly improved Skydio 2 drone. The long-awaited successor to the ground-breaking Skydio R1 autonomously-flying drone that was introduced in early 2018. The new Skydio 2 is designed and built right here in the USA and it competes head-on with the DJI Mavic 2 Pro.