Friends who are concerned about the drone industry should remember that in May 2015, a drone called Lily exploded in the circle of friends, and its biggest feature is that it can be thrown anywhere, anytime, greatly reducing the threshold of operation. For ordinary users, this is the way drones should operate.
However, behind the beautiful vision is a lot of difficult to overcome technical problems. After many bounces, Lily failed to send a single drone to users for more than three years until it folded, with only an "End of our journey" email announcing its complete failure.
The fall of Lily Robotics was a blow to the growing drone market, and to investors in the space.
In fact, since the second half of 2016, along with the onset of the capital winter, the drone industry has encountered unprecedented difficulties. Last year, first the U.S. drone boss 3D Robotics completely withdrew from the drone hardware market, then China's Yihang and Zero big layoffs, even GoPro's entry into the drone market has suffered a series of setbacks. Recently, Parrot, the No. 3 player in the consumer drone market, couldn't resist the onslaught from its competitors and announced a one-third layoff. Zano, a startup star at the same time as Lily, even announced its complete closure back in late 2015.
The explosion of the drone market spawned many drone startups in 2015-2016. Many startups underestimated the time and money needed to perfect the technology, resulting in delayed shipments being a common phenomenon in the drone industry. There are also companies that are forced to bring to market products that are not very mature, but drones are very complex products and get predictable feedback.
Due to frequent layoffs and closures, investor confidence in the drone industry is rapidly diminishing. Many investors have already shown a conservative attitude in interviews, believing that the chances of a startup entering the space and succeeding today are quite slim.
More and more companies are beginning to emphasize that they are not drone companies, but robotics companies, consciously moving closer to artificial intelligence. After the frustration of the consumer-grade market, there are also many drone companies have turned to open up the industry-grade market, with demand for drones emerging in industries such as agriculture, security, electricity, mapping, film and television, and logistics.
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However, well-known companies and industry giants don't seem to have the same interest in drones.
These are the first drones in the world that have been used in the past few years, and the first drones in the world that have been used in the past few years have been used in the past few years, and the first drones in the world that have been used in the past few years have been used in the past few years.
Providing Internet access
Google and Facebook want to use drones to provide Internet access, building satellites, drones, and other flying devices that can connect, take photos, and provide other useful services from the air. If realized, the likely scenario is that automated drones powered by solar energy could hover in the air for weeks or months at a time, providing high-speed Internet connectivity to areas of the planet that don't yet have network coverage.
However, Google's Titan project, which focused on internet and drones, has been called off, and Skybox Imaging, the satellite company it bought for $500 million in 2014, is on the auction block. And the severity of Facebook's internet satellite AMOS-6, which was tragically destroyed by an explosion of a SpaceX rocket last September, has dealt a heavy blow to the company's plans.
(Titan Aerospace drone)
Delivering internet via drones, satellites, or hot air balloons is a very expensive project, with problems in transmitting 5G data and costs, the technology itself facing limitations, and an unproven business model. Although Google, Facebook and many other companies have worked on it, it has not yet been successful.
Automatic delivery
According to foreign media Hothardware reported that Amazon is applying to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (referred to as the FCC) for a license to conduct a secret test of a mobile project, the test object is likely to be used for Amazon delivery drones wireless communication system.
Amazon did not disclose the program being tested, but said the prototype system was designed to support "innovative communications capabilities and functionality". Additionally, Neil Woodward, a former NASA astronaut and Prime Air (Amazon's drone delivery service) executive, is listed as the primary contact for the test.
Amazon drones currently provide delivery services to customers located near the company's UK warehouses, with the first delivery completed a month ago. People need to place a small QR code as a sign on their own location's lawn, and the drones will figure out exactly where they can land safely, and the range of customers for Amazon's drone deliveries will gradually expand in the future.
(Amazon Prime Air delivery drone)
Military passengers
Israeli company Urban Aeronautics recently announced that its large drone, the Cormorant, is scheduled to hit the market in 2020.
Urban Aeronautics has been researching and developing passenger drones for 15 years, and in 2009 showed a conceptual model, code-named Air Mule, at the Paris Air Show, and made its first actual test flight in December 2015. "Cormorant.
The Cormorant itself weighs 1,500 kilograms, has a load capacity of up to 500 kilograms, flies at 185 kilometers per hour, and cost an estimated $14 million. City Aviation believes that the Cormorant is well suited to transporting personnel out of dangerous combat zones, as well as allowing military units to fly over them. The Cormorant's propellers are built-in, unlike helicopter rotor blades that are exposed, and the built-in propellers allow it to maneuver through complex urban terrain without worrying about branches and wires getting stuck in the propellers.
Israel's Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies (Israel's Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies) UAV research center said that such a vehicle, for medical transport and battlefield evacuation of soldiers and other uses, can play a revolutionary role. However, previous test flights have left a number of minor issues to be resolved, and it has yet to be approved by the FAA, so it will take a lot of lead time, and is now scheduled to hit the market in 2020.
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In My Cannon's view, the drone space today is like the VR industry. After the frenzy and vanity, it is gradually returning to rationality, so the winners and losers have become more obvious, and the market has also ushered in a reshuffle. Perhaps, all the emerging technologies need to go through such a baptism, there will be real "black technology" and "good products" appear.