According to an exclusive report in Fortune, the world’s largest drone company is building a new research and development facility in Palo Alto.
Citing as a source “several job listings posted in recent weeks,” Fortune writer Signe Brewster says the 12,000-square-foot building is located east of Stanford and currently houses DJI’s VP of systems and applications engineering Darren Liccardo (the brains behind Tesla’s autopilot project) as well as three engineers.
The move comes just months after DJI raised $75 million from Palo Alto-based venture capital firm Accel – although it is unknown if the move has anything to do with the investor’s proximity.
Though DJI declined to comment specifically on the new center, DJI spokesperson Michael Perry told Fortune that the company has been looking to branch out beyond China in employee recruitment. “Silicon Valley attracts the best possible talent to one spot. That’s really important to us,” Perry said, adding, “We’ve always had an international approach to hiring.”
Brewster notes that with this latest expansion, DJI is beginning to solidify its position as a top UAV firm in the U.S. in addition to China as it plants deeper roots in the American tech landscape.
“Until late 2013, DJI had a core North American staff of marketers, pilots, and cinematography experts based in Austin, Texas …. DJI next opened a U.S. office in February 2014, when it unveiled a customer support and Hollywood-relations center in Los Angeles. A San Mateo office focused on customer support and photographers followed later that year.”
DJI’s latest bricks-and-mortar foray unto American soil has been mirrored by an even higher profile escalation within the domestic drone legal community. In July, DJI hired well-known UAV legal expert Brendan Schulman. As reported in DRONELIFE: “Easily the most prominent figure in the ongoing discussion of drone regulations, Schulman adds a necessary branch to the world’s largest consumer drone manufacturer in his role of Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs.”
More recently, the Chinese company announced that the FAA had invited the company to be represented on the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Registration Task Force.
As for the firm’s apparent new R&D home in the Bay area, Brewster says the move could be a match made in drone heaven for DJI. “The new Palo Alto R&D center will help DJI tap into Silicon Valley’s strength in computer vision and software, complementing Shenzhen’s expertise in hardware development,” Brewster writes, adding that current job listings seek engineers skilled “in areas such as video streaming and storage, embedded software, and computer simulation.”
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
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