DJI has introduced its new customizable drone protection service plan called DJI Enterprise Shield.
Designed to “meet the diverse needs of today’s commercial drone operators,” DJI Enterprise Shield is the first comprehensive coverage plan of its kind that covers the company’s line of enterprise products, providing broad accident coverage, repair and replacement services, free shipping and rapid delivery, and the option to share coverage across a fleet of enterprise products.
Business Solutions
Business Solutions
Stagecoach and others to produce single deck autonomous bus
Transport operator Stagecoach, bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL), and technology company Fusion Processing will all work together to produce a single deck autonomous bus.
Work on the ADL Enviro200 vehicle is being conducted at ADL’s site in Guildford, England, and the bus is expected to be ready for use by the end of this year.
Once complete, the vehicle will be completely autonomous, capable of operating without a driver in an off-road environment. Additionally, the technology also delivers road safety benefits when driven in manual mode.
Griffiss International Airport to receive $800,000 in state funding for UAS technology
On Tuesday, July 24, New York State Senator Joseph Griffo announced that Griffiss International Airport is set to receive $800,000 in state funding for UAS technology.
$500,000 of that funding will be used to transform a hangar at the airport into a year-round UAS experimentation environment known as a “Sky Dome,” which will support the development of UAS technologies to operate safely and securely in the National Air Space (NAS).
This funding is in addition to $450,000 that was previously announced, Griffo says.
Ford creates Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC to accelerate autonomous vehicle business
Ford Motor Company has created Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC, which is a new organization designed to accelerate Ford’s autonomous vehicle (AV) business, in an effort to capitalize on market opportunities.
Ford is organizing its self-driving business into Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC, which will include Ford’s self-driving systems integration, autonomous vehicle research and advanced engineering, AV transportation-as-a-service network development, user experience, business strategy and business development teams.
Airbus and International SOS to study use of UAS to deliver medical cargo and supplies
On July 18, Airbus signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with medical and security risk services company International SOS, which will result in the companies jointly studying the viability of using aircraft or UAS to deliver medical cargo and supplies.
Under the agreement, Airbus will help to define and install reliable aircraft or UAS medical cargo deliveries as part of International SOS MedSupply services.
“We hope to develop a viable business partnership where we can assist International SOS with unmanned medical cargo delivery,” says Dirk Hoke, Chief Executive Officer, Airbus Defence and Space.
Boeing and SparkCognition partner to deliver UTM technology
Boeing has announced that it is working with SparkCognition, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology company, to deliver UAS traffic management (UTM) technologies.
The companies will use artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies to track UAS in flight, and allocate traffic corridors and routes to ensure safe, secure transportation. Through the collaboration, the companies will also provide a standardized programming interface to support commercial applications such as package delivery and industrial inspections.
“Estimated by some analysts at $3 trillion, the urban aerial mobility opportunity will lead to the creation of the largest new market in our lifetimes,” says Amir Husain, founder and CEO of SparkCognition.
SeeByte renews SeeTrack and Neptune licenses currently operated by Royal Navy's MASTT AUV fleet
SeeByte has renewed all SeeTrack and Neptune licenses currently operated by the Royal Navy’s Maritime Autonomous Systems Trials Team (MASTT).
Working in collaboration with ATLAS ELEKTRONIK UK, SeeByte, which is part of the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Mine Countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability program, will be offering full support and maintenance for MASTT.
The software is integrated into MASTT’s AUV fleet to coordinate the vehicles during Mine Countermeasure (MCM) missions.
MartinUAV incorporating Persistent Systems' Wave Relay MANET technology into its V-BAT UAS
Persistent Systems has entered into a five-year partnership with MartinUAV that will result in MartinUAV incorporating Persistent’s Wave Relay Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) technology into its small vertical takeoff-and-land (VTOL) UAS known as V-BAT.
“Persistent is proud to have been selected out of the many commercially available datalink solutions,” says Louis Sutherland, VP Business Development for Persistent Systems.
“This agreement cements Persistent’s line of Wave Relay MANET products as the exclusive communications solution for MartinUAV’s unmanned products.”
UNICEF announces funding opportunity for drone startups
The UNICEF Innovation Fund is seeking make $100,000 equity-free investments in technology startups that plan to use drones to benefit humanity.
“If you’ve got a start-up registered in one ofUNICEF’s program countries and have a working, open-source drone prototype or service (or you are willing to make it open-source) showing promising results, the UNICEF Innovation Fund is looking for you,” the fund says on its website.
The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 22. UNICEF is seeking software to collect and share data, manage flight and delivery operations, unmanned traffic management systems and business models for sustainable drone services, among other needs.
CAAS, EASA and Airbus to develop safety standards and regulatory requirements for UAS in urban environments
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Airbus have announced that they will work together on the development of safety standards and regulatory requirements for UAS in urban environments.
“This tripartite partnership is timely as we seek to better define the operating conditions for the growing number of beneficial uses of UAS in urban environments such as Singapore, with aviation and public safety in mind,” says Kevin Shum, Director-General at CAAS.
“We look forward to working closely with our partners and sharing our experience gained thus far in developing regulatory requirements for UAS operations in Singapore.”
