The United States’ top-selling hobby drone producer, DJI, is implementing a major change to its drone technology. The company announced on Monday, Jan. 13, it is abandoning its previous “geo-blocking” feature, which locks up a drone and initiates a mechanism forcing it to hover in place around a “geofenced” area if it entered a sensitive U.S. airspace.
Now, when users enter a no-fly-zone, in-app alerts will pop up and warn the operator that they are near U.S. Federal Aviation Administration controlled space.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
The new feature leaves the choice to continue into restricted areas up to the operator of the drone, but banks on the alert discouraging users from going any further over fears of the legal consequences.
The company said the move puts the “final responsibility” on the person using the drone, and its initial move to implement geo-blocking over a decade ago was strictly voluntary. The FAA said it does not require “geofencing from drone manufacturers.”
The move to give users more control to go where they want, when they want is raising safety concerns.
A recent example of that was a collision involving a firefighting aircraft and a DJI drone in restricted airspace over the Palisades Fire, which forced the plane, known as a “Super Scooper,” to be grounded with a damaged wing.
The FBI said it is looking into the incident.
U.S. authorities are also concerned about DJI drones for other reasons. DJI is a Chinese company, and the United States is already concerned that Beijing is spying on sensitive military sites.
The U.S. is blocking some of the company’s imports through an essential ban over these concerns soon, and has called DJI a “Chinese military company.” DJI denies that it gives any data to China, but may be forced to, under Chinese law.
