Well I guess it wasn’t just Skydio

[4 inch pistons]

Read an article in a recent Forbes magazine about the 25 year old kid that own BRINC. He is also pushing to get DJI banned in the US.

 

[jaja6009]

It was several companies and entities.
AUVSI and Skydio, but there are probably more.

 

[GadgetGuy]

It was several companies and entities.
AUVSI and Skydio, but there are probably more.

Yup. Eliminate the cheaper, better competition, under the guise of xenophobia, so you can have a monopoly of far more expensive, less capable, patriotic offerings!

 

[jaja6009]

"patriotic offerings"

 

[Nanny Ogg]

"patriotic offerings"

Greed hiding under "patriotism".

 

[Droning on and on...]

Well, the idea of patriotism being a value component of some drone is exceedingly silly to me, and not something that would sway my purchasing decision. I.e., I wouldn't factor patriotism into buying a lesser capable drone for that reason.

On the other hand, all else being equal, I do "buy American" when possible, just like I try to patronize local businesses as much as possible rather than big international outlets. Like to support my neighbors and fellow citizens, and see us all succeed.

 

[wco81]

Never heard of it but they make $9000 drones?

How much are the prices of the DJI drones bought by law enforcement agencies?

They could have just passed laws requiring governmental agencies to use only American brands.

But they might have to do that in every state, every city/county.

Guess getting a national ban is easier.

 

[Nanny Ogg]

It is a shame that stupidity, ignorance and lobbying can dictate national policy.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I'll add that the smartest move, of course not being taken, would be for Uncle Sam to subsidize an overt project to copy DJI, down to the build quality, functionality, reliability, capability, etc. but in a "clean room" setting. Like getting an American designed and build Specta.

Then innovate from there.

DJI has the experience and iteration history to have really nailed this product/device down solid. Anyone that feels differentiation is some sort of imperative is a fool.

 

[anotherlab]

I'll add that the smartest move, of course not being taken, would be for Uncle Sam to subsidize an overt project to copy DJI, down to the build quality, functionality, reliability, capability, etc. but in a "clean room" setting. Like getting an American designed and build Specta.

Then innovate from there.

DJI has the experience and iteration history to have really nailed this product/device down solid. Anyone that feels differentiation is some sort of imperative is a fool.

Nothing that DJI is doing is rocket science. There is no need for a "clean room" duplication of the DJI functionality. DJI has its market share due to the breadth of its product line, features, and price.

Does the US want to subsidize the production of drones to compete with drones made in Asia? Who wants to pay the bill for that?

Specta (Cogito Tech) is just DJI reselling drones under a different label. With some firmware tweaks to prevent the peripherals from being shared.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Nothing that DJI is doing is rocket science. There is no need for a "clean room" duplication of the DJI functionality.

Only to avoid any potential Intellectual Property issues.

I don't know if there are any such encumberances. Do you?

 

[wco81]

DJI has demonstrated operational competence, pulling together the supply chain to ship good quality commercial drones in volume.

They also have many HW and SW engineers who have a lot of experience designing and shipping product.

A startup is going to take a long time to attain that level.

Maybe the legal environment changes before some American company can put out competitive products.

 

[JoeShmoe]

Nothing that DJI is doing is rocket science.

DJI design and use their own ASIC SoC's, while competition fumbles with COTS ICs and battles supply chain problems. No amount of guv't funding can fix this gap. Alain Kaloyeros nods to concur.

 

[anotherlab]

DJI design and use their own ASIC SoC's, while competition fumbles with COTS ICs and battles supply chain problems. No amount of guv't funding can fix this gap. Alain Kaloyeros nods to concur.

Kaloyeros is not a 100% great example to use for manufacturing. He torpedoed his career with the trial for bid rigging. But the nano lab at SUNY Albany is a world-class institution. He was instrumental in making that successful.

The software/firmware is a problem that was solved years ago. DJI's secret sauce is its ability to make a quality drone at a price that makes it difficult for a new company to enter the market.

The only way a new company can get any traction is to come in with a feature that disrupts the market. The Antigravity A1 would be an example of disrupting the market.

Another way to disrupt the market is to come in at the top and change the rules. If a big university that does both agriculture and engineering stepped in, they could design a drone for AG work (pesticide, fertilize, etc). Make the software open source, the hardware easy to 3D print, and easy to fix.

If you can jumpstart domestic production with the larger, commercial drones, then efficiencies developed there could trickle down to consumer drones.

 

[JoeShmoe]

DJI has no "secret sauce" other than persistance and dedication. They made steady progress in making drones for all markets, year after year.
Many wanna-be's tried to imitate DJI success, and failed. Ofc there's bunch of wishful thinkers and academics pipe-dreaming they can do better than DJI if given resources and funding. But lets face it, DJI dominates drone market, and can buy out any "market-disruptor" should it pop up.
Instead of alienating DJI, current administration could've invited them to U.S. to build joint research and manufacturing centers here. Kinda like Toyota came in in the 90s to pollinate/inseminate GM with Kaisen etc. Sadly, this aint happening anytime soon. So, we're left with substandard mediocre overpriced domestic units, while resorting to bootleg grey imports thru ROK. Nothing new.

 

[Droning on and on...]

There is a very real National Security issue not having a robust, healthy domestic drone supplier, even better industry. The "threat" is the same as with pharmaceuticals, rare earths, and other critical components of our economy and military goods. It's especially stupid to depend on the very nations that might abuse that supply for geopolitical purposes.

Not unlike oil. I lived through the OPEC games of the late seventies. This chit is real.

It's fine to be dependent on France for Yoplait. They can cut us off and we'll carry on. Not so much magnets, antibiotics, PPE, and increasingly drones for military purposes.

 

[JoeShmoe]

Methinks building this "robust and healthy patriotic drone industry" will follow the great successes of Juche.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Methinks building this "robust and healthy patriotic drone industry" will follow the great successes of Juche.

Regardless, we have problems if we can't produce drones on our own.

 

[JoeShmoe]

There's a laundry list of gadgets that we can't produce anymore. Ah yes, drones are there too, somewhere on page 50.

 

[Occams Razor]

DJI has demonstrated operational competence, pulling together the supply chain to ship good quality commercial drones in volume.

They also have many HW and SW engineers who have a lot of experience designing and shipping product.

A startup is going to take a long time to attain that level.

Maybe the legal environment changes before some American company can put out competitive products.

The US Government will provide large dollar subsidies for companies to develop consumer and commercial drones to replace DJI products.

Those companies will legally hire and sponsor ex-DJI engineers and scientists to accelerate the development and design.

ICE will come along and arrest and deport those engineers and scientists.

The companies will ask the Government for more money to replace them with expensive US employees.

US Consumers will have a $7,500 Mini 3 equivalent (with bugs) in 2030.