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A French tech startup is to looking to speed the processing of medical analyses – and resulting treatment – by delivering patient samples between medical facilities using drones for a group of hospitals in the country’s Normandy region.

DJI Phantom 4 RTK and Mavic 2 Enterprise series drone users are finally getting the much-awaited firmware update that adds support for Remote ID in the United States.

Even as international drone delivery company Wing continued to expand its activities around the globe over the summer, it appears to have paused aerial services in the Canberra capital of its booming Australian market amid an update of its operating model.

We (almost) all use it, we love it, although it can sometimes be a pain in the butt to have to remember to check it, but Aloft has just announced it has passed one million authorizations using FAA’s LAANC program on its app. The company also shared trends on the use of the program over the last year by both Part 107 and recreational pilots.

We spoke too soon. Just when it seemed like scooping DJI with its own teaser for the September 25 Mini 4 Pro release couldn’t be topped, yet another leak about the not-merely-rumored drone now provides additional, crystal-clear photos of the craft in bucolic settings.

(Updated: Live now)

Terra Drone Corporation, one of the top drone service providers in the world, has started offering agricultural spraying services in Southeast Asia. The company has scooped up precision agriculture tech from Indonesian startup Avirtech and established a new entity called Terra Drone Agri to cater primarily to palm plantations.

Japan-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) plane maker SkyDrive has gotten a bit more tailwind in the commercialization push of its three-seat “flying car” with an order of 50 craft from leasing firm Solyu of South Korea.

Security and defense UAV tech specialist Red Cat Holdings has expanded its work with US government agencies through an additional contract to supply Teal 2 drones to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operators.

Skydio has unveiled its latest drone, the triple-camera X10 with an all-new NightSense feature that enables autonomous flights in zero-light environments. Designed as a versatile solution for enterprise and public safety applications, the X10 is Skydio’s first offering since exiting the consumer business earlier this year.

Aerospace experts from US conglomerate Honeywell are teaming up with a division of the Department of Energy to devlop a compact form of hydrogen fuel storage designed specifically for longer-haul drone use.

Public safety and emergency response organizations using drones in their work will find it easier – and much less expensive – to monitor the airspace around them during their work thanks to a new partnership between UAV remote identification tech specialist AirSentinel, and the nonprofit DroneResponders association.

DJI has released the latest firmware update for the Matrice 30 (M30) drone series. The September 2023 update focuses on improving flight safety, adding more custom options, and improving the Pilot 2 app’s user interface.

To get an idea of just how deep online sleuths have gotten into drone giant DJI’s product development kitchen, after weeks of sharing detailed photos and specs of the company’s rumored Mini 4 Pro, leakers have now beat it to the punch yet again by uploading the teaser for the unveiling event ahead of schedule.

It’s no secret that UK police have been energetic and innovative adopters of drone technology in public service, law enforcement, and first responder activity, but a recent survey suggests those forces need to do a better job in assuring security of their UAVs and the data they collect.

Global drone fleet management specialist AirData has announced its partnership with Sony to provide data analytics and craft oversight services for the electronic giant’s Airpeak S1 UAVs.

Leading global instant logistics company Zipline has passed another major milestone in its operational evolution – and in the future scaling of the entire drone delivery sector – by obtaining authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights.

Over its some 700-year-history, the UK’s annual Goose Fair in Nottingham has adapted to and embraced technological innovation as part of its festivities, but this year is drawing a line – in the sky – to exclude drones.

UK drone delivery and advanced air mobility infrastructure startup Skyports has launched trials of on-demand UAV equipment provisioning flights to North Sea oil rigs in partnership with its Norwegian energy client, Equinor.  

As an additional reminder that you can’t make everyone happy – especially in this divided, frequently infuriated world – a UK medical drone delivery project has come under considerable fire for its efforts to seek prolonged flight restrictions across an expanse of airspace that locals say would effectively shut down local air traffic.

DJI has released a new firmware update for Mini 3. Aircraft firmware v01.00.0300 is now available to download for the sub-250-gram drone.

So, DJI might be prepping to release not one but two new drones in the coming weeks! The sub-250-gram Mini 4 Pro, as you likely know, has already made its way to the FCC database. But now, leaked pictures of what appears to be a new high-tech DJI drone, Matrice 3D, have also surfaced online.

Despite the accumulating details over recent months indicating a looming Mini 4 Pro release, relentless DJI leaker Igor Bogdanov has managed to dig up additional unseen images of the rumor-in-name-only craft, before returning his attention to a docked enterprise drone he first revealed last month – this time via retweeted photos from fellow sleuth @NGDrones.

Drone delivery startup Flytrex has announced an upgrade of the method it uses to upload food orders destined for customer households, as part of an effort to reduce processing and transport time and permit the company to continue expanding its aerial business activity.