Drone news: DJI Dock 2 Release, Hylio Approved For Drone Swarms, and New DroneUp Delivery System

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update, we have 3 stories for you this week: DJI Dock 2 Release, Hylio gets approval for drone swarms, and DroneUp announces new delivery system. First up is DJI’s new Dock 2. The Dock 2 is a smaller more compact version of the DJI dock, with similar capabilities. The Dock 2 is 75% smaller and 68% lighter than the Dock 1, and comes with two available aircraft. DJI also released the Matrice 3D and 3DT with the Dock 2, allowing for nearly any mission to be completed using the Dock system. The Matrice 3D is set up much like the Mavic 3 Enterprise, with a 4/3 CMOS wide camera and a 1/2” CMOS tele camera. The Matrice 3DT mimics the Mavic 3 Enterprise Thermal, with a 1/1.32” CMOS wide camera, a 1/2” CMOS tele camera, and a 640x512 Thermal camera. Batteries on both aircraft are advertised to last for 50 minutes and for 400 charge cycles. DJI also advertised that the control of the docks was through US Based AWS servers for maximum security. Let us know in the comments what you think about this new dock! https://enterprise.dji.com/dock-2?site=enterprise&from=nav https://dronexl.co/2024/03/26/dji-unveils-dock-2-automated-drone-ops/ Next up, Hylio has gotten approval to operate drone swarms! Hylio makes several spray drones from small 2.5 gallon up to 18 gallon drones. Prices range from $18,000 to $56,000 respectively, with additional accessories further increasing the price. Hylio’s latest FAA approval allows them to operate several drones larger than 55lbs simultaneously. It’s unclear the specifics of the waiver/authorization but this is a pretty huge breakthrough for those working in agriculture. https://dronexl.co/2024/03/26/faa-green-light-agricultural-drone-swarms/ Last up is DroneUp. DroneUp this week released a locker system, called the DBX, that will replace the operations centers currently in use. The DBX acts as a location that a company can use to send packages out of, with a capacity of up to 50 packages per hour. A drone then delivers the package to the customer and returns to a different location to either charge or to get a battery swap. This allows a network of drones to operate from a “Hub” and pick up packages at stores and other locations to deliver to customers. What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments! https://www.droneup.com/introducing-the-droneup-ecosystem https://dronexl.co/2024/03/26/droneup-autonomous-drone-delivery/ Alright, that’s it, have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week on Monday for the live!