DJI explains why it won’t stop drones from flying over the White House — and what happens in a US ban
Time is not on DJIâs side.
The worldâs largest drone maker has less than a year to convince the Trump administration to save its products from an automatic US ban â at a time when drone fears have been stoked more than ever.
Some of those fears were exacerbated by DJIâs own bad timing: days after a small DJI drone took out a plane fighting the LA wildfires, the company chose to announce it would no longer enforce the âno-fly zonesâ it designed to keep such things from happening. The company will no longer stop its drones from flying over airports, power plants, or even the White House, a move it says it planned months ago and already rolled out in Europe and the UK.
How does getting rid of no-fly zones make drones safer? What can DJI do to escape a US ban? And what might happen if that ban comes into effect?
We sat down with DJI head of global policy Adam Welsh and DJI public safety integration director Wayne Baker, and the answers seem to boil down to:
- No-fly zones donât make drones safer, but they might make lifesaving flights easier;
- DJI stands to save some money in staffing costs by eliminating no-fly zones;
- DJI has an awful lot of convincing to d …