Skydio vs. DJI

Story by Vic Moss

Talk about security violations.

If you know anything about the drone business, you likely know that Skydio drone company has been actively trying to get DJI and Autel Robotics drones banned in the United States. And their entire campaign is built on the "fact" that these drones spy for China (they don't). The actual reason is because they can't compete.

But Skydio has been caught with their hands in the proverbial spying cookie jar.

Skydio recently mailed marketing pieces to Police Agencies across the country. At first glance, they seem harmless. But they are not.

Each of these mailers contain an AT&T sim card that broadcasts, among other things, the location of the mailer. And this would include the location of any Police Chief's home if they took it there.

If any Chinese drone company did this, there would be a Congressional investigation. As there should be! But I'm willing to be Skydio gets a pass on this. With the number of legislators Skydio has in their pockets (Moolenaar, Scott, Stefanik, to name a few), it won't even get mentioned.

But I can promise you that we as an industry will not let this get swept under the rug.

Yes, we need an American made drone. And Skydio is probably best poised to be that company. But at what cost to the drone industry? I want them to succeed, I have friends who work there. And they are the best positioned to do that, but at what cost?

Instead of spending VC money on mailers like this (& paying for lunch today at the Drone Responders Conference), maybe Skydio should put it into R&D and put out a better product.

Sorry Skydio, you messed up big time. And thanks for giving us even more ammunition when we go to state legislatures across this country to fight your attempts to ban DJI and Autel at the state level.

Full story by Haye Kesteloo below. Please share Haye's story with any state or federal legislators you know. https://dronexl.co/.../skydio-tracking-mailers-security.../