Focus on business customers: Skydio gives up consumer drones

The US manufacturer Skydio is consolidating its business and discontinuing the sale of its autonomously flying leisure and hobby drones. Skydio announced this on Wednesday. The drone manufacturer now wants to focus entirely on the business sector. After the Chinese manufacturer DJI was banned from some markets for corporate and public sector drones, Skydio now wants to fill this gap.

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According to Skydio boss Adam Bry, the private customer business with its drones, which can fly independently and avoid obstacles with their autonomous AI functions, has been very successful for four years. However, the market has changed. By doing so, Bry is alluding to the fact that Chinese drone manufacturer DJI can no longer sell its corporate and public sector drones in some markets, particularly the US market. The US Department of Commerce blacklisted the Chinese drone company in 2020. Since then, US companies have only been allowed to do business with the company with a special permit. DJI drones are therefore no longer considered in the USA when purchasing drones that are to take on tasks in the areas of security, transport, energy, construction and defense. In Europe and Germany, too, Chinese drones are to be largely ousted from the public sector for security reasons. Skydio, which raised $230 million from investors just a few months ago, now intends to fill the gap that is opening.

Focus on business customers

“Our drones are making the core industries on which our civilization depends — public safety, transportation, energy, construction and defense — safer and more efficient. And it’s becoming clearer every day that we need trusted, safe drones for these critical applications. The impact, that we have on our corporate and public sector customers is so compelling that we need to focus on him fully,” Bry explains his approach. 1,500 corporate and government customers worldwide are already using Skydio drones, says Bry.

Skydio will therefore no longer offer Skydio 2+ Starter, Sports, Cinema and Pro Kit drones. There will also no longer be a successor model to the Skydio 2 and Skydio 3. However, the company promises that accessories should be kept available for all these drones for as long as possible. This means replacement batteries and propellers, charging cables and other accessories. Support is also guaranteed. During the warranty period, Skydio will continue to carry out repairs and private customers will receive support.

(olb)

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