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EHANG, makers of the Ghost Drone, announced the company has closed $10 million in Series A funding led by GGV Capital. Angel investors in the round are Xiaoping Xu and Nick Yang, two of China’s most successful entrepreneurs. PreAngel, a fund focused on early stage startups, is also contributing to the round. EHANG will use this new round of funding to meet demand amassed from its Indiegogo campaign by expanding its team and ramping up manufacturing efforts. Continue reading
Doug Trudeau, a real estate agent in Tucson, Arizona, just received the FAA’s first unmanned aircraft exemption for real estate so he can take aerial photos and video of homes that are for sale. Trudeau, 61, said he just learned that he won approval to use his $1,500 “Phantom 2 Vision+” quad-copter, which its maker DJI calls a “flying camera.”
Advanced Aviation Solutions (ADAVSO), LLC has announced its selection as the first company in the United States approved by the FAA to legally operate commercial Unmanned Aircraft Systems for precision agriculture. Continue reading
The International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) new Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Panel aims to deliver standards for unmanned aircraft to the organisation’s governing council in 2018. Once approved, the standards will guide ICAO’s 191 member states in setting their own national regulations. The overall process of producing RPAS standards is expected to take a decade or longer. Continue reading
The US Special Operations Command is looking for a new contractor to provide and manage a fleet of medium-range unmanned aerial vehicles,, and has put out the call to industry ahead of an early 2015 lapse in its contractor-provided ISR support.
Precision Integrated Programs of Newberg, Oregon, an aviation services company, has placed a launch order for Flexrotor, Aerovel’s exceptional long-endurance VTOL UAV. Delivery of aircraft and support equipment is scheduled for spring 2015.
At CES 2015, Qualcomm Research is introducing its latest innovation in robotics through the Snapdragon Cargo—a flying and rolling robot with an integrated flight controller—powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Continue reading
The first trial flights in low temperature conditions of the Orlan-10 UAS, just delivered to a unit of the Eastern Military District in Chukotka, are planned in early 2015.