Genesis Drone Light Show Is the Biggest Yet, Sets High Bar for the Use of Drones in Promotional Events

Hyundai’s luxury line Genesis recently put on a massive drone light show in Shanghai to celebrate the company’s launch in China.

Using 3,281 drones, the Genesis logo was formed on the night sky in impressive detail.

Photo credit: Genesis

In addition to the logo, the light show featured other formations, including a hand, a helix, and the names of two of Galaxy’s cars (the G80 and the GV80).

With the skies of central Shanghai as its canvas, Genesis employed thousands of illuminated drones to paint an evocative picture of its brand identity and distinctive design philosophy.

– Galaxy press release

Galaxy’s light show raises the bar for these kinds of promotional events, which require a high level of planning, technical know-how, and commitment, not to mention regulatory approvals—especially in a busy city like Shanghai.

According to the captions below the video on YouTube, putting on this huge light show is a way for Galaxy to prove “that we dare to do things differently.”

Hyundai has also been investing heavily in drone taxis.

The company’s Urban Air Mobility Division recently partnered with the government of the U.K. to develop a site for testing them, which will be called Air One.

Did Galaxy’s Light Show Win a Guinness World Record?

A press release from Genesis states that its light show in Shanghai won a Guinness World Record for The Most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously.

However, when you visit the page devoted to this record on the Guinness World Records website, Galaxy is not mentioned as holding the award.

That page lists a Chinese company called Shenzhen Damoda Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd. as the current record holder, with a simultaneous flight of 3,051 drones that was made in September of 2020:

Source on the Guinness World Records website

According to the numbers, Galaxy certainly has flown more drones at the same time than Shenzhen Damoda, since Galaxy’s light show featured 3,281 drones and Shenzhen Damod’s light show featured 3,051.

However, it could be that Galaxy neglected to include an official Guinness representative to serve as a witness for the record-breaking flight.

We’ve seen this happen before. Back in 2017, Ehang claimed to have won the same Guinness World Record that Galaxy now claims for a light show that featured 1,000 of its 2.0 Ghost Drones.

But when we reached out to Guinness back then, we were told that Ehang had not had an official present and so the company had not actually received the record (although it had conducted a flight with 1,000 drones, as best we could tell).

We have reached out to Guinness to inquire about the status of Galaxy’s record, and will update this post with any new information we obtain.

A Look Back at Guinness World Records for Drone Light Shows

Intel was the first company to secure a Guinness World Record for most UAVs in the air at the same time, with a flight of 100 of its Shooting Star light show drones.

Here is a timeline of all the record-breaking drone light shows since Intel first got its record back in 2016:

November, 2015—Record first established by Intel

• Company: Intel
• Number of drones: 100
• Interesting details: Intel seems to have collaborated with Guinness World Records to create this award category—before the “Drone 100” flight, it didn’t exist.

November, 2016—Intel breaks its own record for the first time

• Company: Intel
• Number of drones: 500

February, 2018—Intel breaks its own record for the 2nd time at the Winter Olympics

• Company: Intel
• Number of drones: 1,218
• Interesting details: The light show at the Winter Olympics got a lot of media attention and turned a positive global spotlight on the drone industry.

July, 2018—Intel breaks its own record for a 3rd time to celebrate its 50th anniversary

• Company: Intel
• Number of drones: 2,066
• Interesting details: Intel wanted to celebrate its 50th anniversary by flying 2,018 drones at the same time (to symbolize the year 2018) and establishing yet another Guinness World Record. In the end, the Guinness representative judging the effort counted 2,066 drones in flight at the same time, and this was the number used for the record.

September 4, 2020—Russian company breaks Intel’s record

• Company: Unknown
• Number of drones: 2,200
• Interesting details: There’s not much information available about this flight, but it’s mentioned here on the Guinness World Record website. It’s remarkable that this was the first record set for a drone light show that wasn’t created by Intel—and that Shenzhen Damoda broke it just a few weeks later (see below).

*No video found*

September 20, 2020—Shenzhen Damoda breaks Intel’s record with a light show using 3,051 drones

• Company: Shenzhen Damoda Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd.
• Number of drones: 3,051
• Interesting details: Despite the Galaxy light show being bigger, some think the Shenzhen Damoda show is more interesting to watch.

Do you have a favorite drone light show video that isn’t featured here? Share it on this thread in the UAV Coach community forum.