Drones

DJI is unusually weak right now, and Insta360 is seizing the opportunity for its first drone: “immersive, creator-ready, and easy for anyone to fly,” with spherical filming so you can fly first then frame shots after. (The company tried 360-degree drone attachments before, but never a full aircraft.)

Mark Walter is buying majority ownership of the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation, reports ESPN. Walter runs TWG Global, which owns chunks of other sports teams, and also owns a fun grab-bag of other companies, including Shield AI and Slate Auto. LeBron-themed pickup truck when?

It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud: A Chinese company wants to be audited by the US government, and it’s asking you for help!

Ek’s investment company Prima Materia dumped its first €100 million in Helsing, the German defense tech group with roots in AI software, back in 2021. Now it’s leading a €600 million round to capitalize on the shift to drone warfare. Per the Financial Times:

Almost every single thing in Friday’s executive order is about uplifting the drone industry and cutting through red tape (at the potential expense of safety), not about cracking down on the China-based leading manufacturer of drones. But as I noted last week, Trump doesn’t need to lift a finger. The ban on future DJI products happens automatically unless he steps in.

The Washington Post is reporting he’s expected to sign executive orders on drones next week, suggesting they could “end Chinese drone sales in the US.”

DJI said it wouldn’t, but it weirdly did anyhow. Now, the company won’t answer our questions about the launch at all. How did Adorama obtain a shipment of drones? Will DJI honor the preorders at B&H? Does any other retailer have a shipment? Will DJI honor its warranty on those sales?

The company hasn’t revealed what model it’s announcing on May 13th, 2025, but a teaser video shared to its X account shows a drone with a triple camera array similar to what the DJI Mavic 3 Pro uses. Next week could see the debut of the DJI Mavic 4 Pro, as DroneDJ speculates, with an upgraded stabilized camera system that can roll to facilitate video capture in portrait mode like the DJI Mini 4 Pro.

“Skydio has produced a total of 45,000 drones,” reports Bloomberg Businessweek, as part of a good profile of the self-flying dronemaker. Skydio spokesperson Kiersten Bagley tells me it’s more than 45,000, but still under 50K.

Wired reports that Amazon has reduced the number of drone flights under its Prime Air delivery service in College Station, Texas, and is looking to relocate its hub within the city following noise complaints from nearby residents.

Amazon told Bloomberg it’s making software changes and temporarily pausing commercial flights, but that it expects to restart deliveries once it pushes the fixes and gets a green light from the FAA.

That’s the big question online — because the unique bicycle-spoke folding drone isn’t smaller or more powerful than DJI’s Mini drones. But it’s inexpensive, does do a few things they don’t — yet — and it’s fun to fold and unfold! Check it out in my video:

Some good quality-of-life updates for drone pilots in the US: DJI is ditching its own 12-year old geofencing system in favor of one with official FAA datasets. This update should help pilots better understand where they’re allowed to fly and avoid unintended flights in restricted zones.

Two people have been arrested in California for flying unauthorized drones in areas impacted by the LA wildfires, according to a police report seen by Deadline.

According to this New York Times writeup, the first noted sighting was from a contractor enjoying a sandwich and a podcast while enjoying nature, who saw something in his rearview mirror.

The FAA banned drone flights temporarily in 22 areas a few weeks ago. Bans for parts of New York closely followed, and as CBS News reports, the list grew a bit longer this week, with warnings that the government ‘may use deadly force’ on UAVs flying there.

From January to October 2024, prisons in the two countries recorded 1,296 drone-related incidents, marking a tenfold increase from 2020, according to a report from The Guardian.

“Oh right, because there’s beautiful nature, and good schools.”