Drone News Roundup: Drone Tour of Tesla Factory, Study Finds Most Drone Companies Not Ready for Remote ID, and More!
BY Zacc Dukowitz
21 March 2024This week we’re covering a new cinewhoop-style drone tour of Tesla’s factory in Germany, called Giga Berlin.
We’re also covering a study finding that many drone companies still aren’t ready for Remote ID, the top drone video of the year from AirVuz, the punishment given to a drone pilot who illegally flew over an NFL game, and AUVSI’s plans to help states be more drone ready.
Now let’s get to those links!
Drone Tour of Giga Berlin
This drone tour of Tesla’s Berlin factory starts outside the main building before cutting into a massive warehouse where employees in futuristic silver uniforms busily go about their work. Then we get into the car-making itself. One thing that stands out in this tour is just how much automation there is in the Tesla assembly line—robot after robot automatically grabs and moves pieces of the car along, with about an even split between shots of people and shots of robots involved in the process. This isn’t the first drone tour of Giga Berlin—Tesla put another one out about a year ago. Apparently at least one goal of creating these videos is to help recruit people to work at Tesla, since the only text in the description of the new one is an invitation to join the Tesla team.
LEARN MORE
Most Drone Companies Not Ready for Remote ID
Credit: SkySafe
Last Saturday, March 16, was the FAA’s Remote ID enforcement deadline. That deadline represented the end of a six month grace period the FAA extended to drone pilots and drone companies to give them more time to comply with the Remote ID rule.
But despite the extra time, it looks like many drone companies still aren’t ready for Remote ID. A new study from drone airspace management company SkySafe finds that drones from the majority of drone companies aren’t compliant with the rule. As you can see above, Skydio is the only company that’s fully ready, with DJI a close second. After that things decline quickly, with Parrot, Autel, and several others falling short of full readiness. To judge Remote ID readiness, SkySafe did a “deep analysis of the various services and components responsible for implementing Remote ID within each platform.” Read the study to get all the details, and see which companies are and aren’t up to speed with Remote ID.
LEARN MORE
AirVuz’s Video of the Year
This showreel created by German-based aerial services company Aerocircus won AirVuz’s Video of the Year this month. No surprise, the video is incredible, featuring beautiful, dramatic drone shots from several different movie productions and other projects.
Want to submit your work? AirVuz is a drone video platform that runs regular contests, which culminate annually in a top overall winner for the year. Here’s how it works: Each week, we review all uploads to pick the Top 5 videos and our Drone Video of the Week (DVOW) winner. The DVOW winners are then contenders for Drone Video of the Month (DVOM), and the DVOM Winners are automatically nominated for Drone Video of the Year. Follow the link below to learn more about how to submit your videos.
LEARN MORE
Judge Issues Light Punishment for NFL Rogue Drone Flight
A few weeks back, we covered the story of a man who flew his DJI Mini 2 over a Baltimore Ravens’ AFC Championship Game. NFL security personnel paused the game until the drone was gone, and Maryland State Police quickly found the pilot a few blocks away. Now a judge has issued a sentence for the rogue drone pilot: one year of probation and a $500 fine. When he was first caught, the man said he didn’t know it was illegal to fly over the stadium, noting that the app he used to fly hadn’t posted any advisories about flying in the area.
That ignorance may have been a factor in the judge’s lenience. But as these kinds of illegal flights grow in number, punishments may become more severe in an effort to discourage them. And this could happen soon. According to officials from M&T Bank Stadium, where the illegal flight occurred, this was only one of eight rogue drone incidents this season at the stadium.
LEARN MORE
States Are Increasingly More Drone Ready, According to AUVSI
For two years now, AUVSI has been tracking the “drone preparedness” of states as part of its Drone Prepared initiative, an industry-backed, multi-state effort to help lawmakers ensure that their state or locality is ready for the benefits that drone operations will bring to their communities. In a recent statement, AUVSI shared that states are making progress and things are looking good for legislation about both drones and drone taxis (AAM).
Here’s an update from AUVSI:
February marked the second month of the state legislative session, and with it came a flurry of activity . . . Key issues we’ve seen so far have focused on the emerging sector of advanced air mobility and also include topics covered consistently in the past few years: critical infrastructure, trespass, privacy, and general drone misuse.
On March 6, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 169 into law after its unanimous passage in the State’s Senate and 67-2 passage in its House of Representatives. AUVSI was proud to support this legislation and work closely with lawmakers to ensure its success.
Want to help your state become drone ready? Here are AUVSI’s key points for lawmakers:
- Look for opportunities to promote drone use for public benefit. This can include ensuring that grant and educational programs apply to drones, collaborating in UAS pilot programs such as FAA’s BEYOND program, and incorporating UAS in government contracting.
- Leave air navigation and aviation safety to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). States should not try to dictate when or where UAS can fly, set aircraft design standards, or impose additional certification obligations for UAS pilots.
- Use caution in adopting drone-specific laws and leverage existing law. States should not adopt unnecessary drone-specific laws when existing regulations already protect against aerial trespass and privacy violations.
Follow the link below to visit the Drone Prepared initiative’s website.
LEARN MORE
Make sure to sign up for our free weekly newsletter using the button below so you can get our weekly newsletter every Saturday, with this roundup and our other featured stories from the week.
