Drone News of the Week, June 23: DRONELIFE Headlines, All in One Place to Read or Listen

Read or listen to all of the headlines in one place: excerpts from the DRONELIFE drone news of the week ending June 23, 2023.  Click on the titles below for the full story.

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Transforming Mining Operations with Drones: Strayos Partners with Quantum Systems

Mining Intelligence software leader Strayos and aerial intelligence company Quantum-Systems GmbH have entered a strategic partnership to revolutionize mining operations via advanced technology and automation. The partnership will leverage the advanced capabilities of both companies, merging Strayos’ expertise in artificial intelligence and data analytics with Quantum Systems’ trailblazing UAV technology. This collaboration will enable mining companies to extract greater value from data, improving the safety and productivity of operations.

Dufour Aerospace Releases the Final Design for the Aero2 Drone: Hybrid-Electric Propulsion, Tilt-Wing Design

Today, Swiss eVTOL company Dufour Aerospace released the final design and specifications for its Aero2 drone, an uncrewed aerial vehicle with a hybrid-electric propulsion system and an aerodynamically-efficient tilt-wing design. The Aero2 is the predecessor of the Aero3, a larger tilt-wing aircraft capable of both uncrewed or crewed operations.

For Air Taxis to Take Off, They Need Somewhere to Land. Skyportz Works to Make Investment in Vertiports Less Risky

It’s a conundrum common in many advanced technology sectors.  In a world full of gas stations, can electric cars be viable without a similar network of charging stations?  Which will come first: the air taxi or the vertiport?  For Urban Air Mobility (UAM) to become a reality at scale throughout the world, countries will need to rapidly deploy air taxi landing sites.  The vertiports are needed even before air taxis receive full certification and permissions around the world- the industry can’t grow or gather sufficient safety data without enough flights, and UAM cannot be profitable or viable without this common use infrastructure.

Japan’s SkyDrive Will Leverage Suzuki’s Manufacturing to Build eVTOL Aircraft

Japan’s SkyDrive Reaches Basic Agreement with Suzuki to Build eVTOL Aircraft, Leveraging manufacturing facilities and expertise.  eVTOL and drone manufacturers around the world have run up against the realities of cost-effective manufacturing at scale. At this week’s Paris Air Show, Japan’s SkyDrive announced their solution.

Volocopter Sets Its Sights on Olympic Games: Paris to Offer eVTOL Services in Summer 2024

This week at the International Paris Air Show, urban air mobility (UAM) pioneer Volocopterand Groupe ADP, alongside the French Civil Aviation Authority and Paris Region, emphasized that Paris will be the first European city to offer electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) services in time for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The services will be available to the general public as an addition to the existing public transportation system of Paris Region.

FAA News: Leadership Changes, Reauthorization Stalls, and More [DRONELIFE Exclusive Dive]

The FAA has been without an appointed FAA Administrator since Trump appointee Steve Dickson stepped down mid-way through his 5 year term on March 31, 2022.  FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, Billy Nolen, replaced Dickson as Acting Administrator: Nolen left the post after 14 months in June of 2023 to join eVTOL manufacturer Archer Aviation. Nolen has now been replaced with Deputy U.S. Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg. Before accepting the post at the DOT, Trottenberg served from 2014-2020 as New York City’s Transportation Commissioner.

AIR ONE Personal eVTOL: Operating with High Lander UTM and Mission Control

Electric take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) provider AIR has announced that its aerial vehicles will fly under the airspace coverage of leading drone management and uncrewed traffic management provider High Lander. High Lander is working towards the full integration of shared airspace between crewed and uncrewed aircraft through two scalable, drone-agnostic software solutions. The first of these two solutions is Mission Control, a platform for managing and automating drone missions for all applications. The other, Universal UTM, is an automated uncrewed traffic management platform that monitors all airborne activity over any airspace in real-time

XTEND Partners with SightX on XOS, the Human-Guided Autonomous Operating System

Today, autonomous operating system developer XTEND announced a partnership with edge AI and computer vision expert SightX. This partnership will see SightX’s data processing capabilities benefit XTEND’s XOS, a human-guided autonomous operating system reinventing the way humans interact with drones, robots, and smart devices.  SightX is the most recent addition to XTEND’s XOS app store. Its revolutionary software will grant drones, robots, and smart devices on XOS an advanced multi-object data acquisition engine, greatly enhancing their ability to recognise and track objects, understand scenes, and analyze situations in real time.

WingXpand Wins U.S. AirForce Contract: the 7ft Backpackable Drone

WingXpand wins 7-figure U.S. AirForce contract to ruggedize 7ft packpackable drone, and develop fire-spotting software.  WingXpand’s unique feature is described in its name.  The wings on what appear to be a fixed wing drone literally expand out to 7 feet from a form factor small enough to be carried in a backpack.  The design offers major benefits, providing the portability of a quad with the flight endurance of a fixed wing.  Now, the U.S. Air Force has granted WingXpand a contract “for the customization and ruggedization of its unique 7ft backpackable aircraft,” says a company press release.

India’s Garuda Announces Plans to Deliver Drones to 100 Countries Next Year

Last week, India’s leading drone technology startup Garuda Aerospace participated in Europe’s largest tech and startup summit, Viva Technology Event 2023. The company received an exclusive invitation by the Government of India to represent the nation and join the Indian Delegation at the event, held in Paris, France from June 14th-17th. Viva Technology saw the attendance of 91,000 participants from 146 countries. Of the various startups present, Garuda Aerospace was one of only 10 drone startups worldwide, and amongst 20 startups representing India across various sectors.

Volocopter Partners with ADAC Luftrettung: Customizing eVTOL for Emergency Medical Services

ADAC Luftrettung is a charitable air rescue service operating more than 50 rescue helicopters out of 37 bases.  The organization’s motto is “Racing against time and for life”: in emergency medical services, getting a patient to treatment quickly can mean the difference between life and death.  At the Paris Air Show this week, ADAC Luftrettung has confirmed the purchase of two VoloCity aircraft to begin with: the organization intends to purchase an additional 150 Volocopter eVTOLs.

Drone Diplomacy: Humanitarian or Act of Aggression? A DRONELIFE Exclusive

As geopolitical tensions rise – and natural disasters become an ever more frequent occurrence – drones are increasingly used as tools of diplomacy.  While the deployment of drones after a natural disaster for mapping or delivery is generally accepted as much needed help, could those same deployments also be used for surveillance or intelligence gathering later?   If so, do drones represent a less-intrusive way of gathering data, or a threat to an individual nation’s sovereignty?

Flyability Releases Remote Compliant Version of Elios 3 Collision Tolerant Drone

Indoor drone solution provider Flyabilityhas announced the release of a new version of its Elios 3 drone. This updated model is in full compliance with FAA regulations regarding UAS Remote Identification. The final rule on Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft on the Federal Register requires that all drone pilots required to register their UAS per FAA requirements must also begin to operate their aircraft in accordance with the Remote ID ruling by September 16, 2023. Last year, building compliant drones became a requirement for manufacturers.

Red Cat and Athena Announce New AI and Computer Vision Abilities for Teal 2 Drone

Military technology company Red Cat Holdings has announced that the Teal 2 drone has been added to the U.S. Department of Defense DIU Blue sUAS Cleared list.  The company also announced this week completion of the second phase of its artificial intelligence and computer-vision partnership with AI-enabled military decision-support company Athena AI. Athena was first announced as a partner for Red Cat subsidiary Teal Drones’ Teal 2 military-grade drone last March. By processing video recorded by Teal 2’s thermal-imaging sensor, Athena’s technology is now able to perform target recognition and battle tracking, enabling rapid decision-making on the battlefield through the assistance of artificial intelligence.