The drone industry is big news these days - and one drone industry forecast after another is released hyping the seemingly unlimited potential for the market. But that was not always the case: a review of market reports released over the past few short years makes it abundantly clear that the explosive growth of the civilian drone market took analysts totally by surprise, and … [Read more...] about Changing Forecasts: The Drone Industry Surprise
Commercial drone industry
3DR Cuts Jobs, Shifts Focus
3D Robotics Inc., a major drone manufacturer, will cut jobs and restructure in order to shift its focus from consumer drones into the commercial market, Marketwatch reports. Citing heavy competition from industry leader DJI - reportedly holding over 70% of the consumer drone market - 3DR says that they are moving more quickly than anticipated into the commercial drone … [Read more...] about 3DR Cuts Jobs, Shifts Focus
Is Drone Risk Extreme or Minimal? It’s Past Time to Find Out
Commentary. The Mercatus Center's report released earlier this week stated that the real drone risk posed to aircraft was "minimal." In a paper that was partly research and partly a pointed critique of the FAA's overblown rhetoric on drone risk, researchers took bird strike data and made assumptions about the number of times (very, very few) that drones were actually likely to … [Read more...] about Is Drone Risk Extreme or Minimal? It’s Past Time to Find Out
FAA Reauthorization: Micro Drone Classification, Again
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., the chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on small business and entrepreneurship, announced that he has written the Micro Drone Safety and Innovation Act, which would create a micro drone classification for drones weighing under 4.4 lbs, exempting them from some FAA regulations. The announcement was made in written testimony at the committee’s … [Read more...] about FAA Reauthorization: Micro Drone Classification, Again
Drone Lobby: Who Are the Biggest “Industry Stakeholders”?
The drone lobby has been in the news of late, as the NYTimes Bits Blog reported a couple of weeks ago that a frenzy of industry stakeholders had descended upon Washington in an effort to influence drone policy in the 2016 FAA Reauthorization Act (also known as the AIRR Act.) Now The Hill has tallied data on lobby spending as compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, … [Read more...] about Drone Lobby: Who Are the Biggest “Industry Stakeholders”?
