Amazon plans to expand Prime Air to nearly 500 cities and towns this year, but some residents in one US city already covered by the drone delivery service say that it’s “been a disaster.” The drones are a privacy and safety concern, according to people living in Richardson, Texas, and sound like flying lawn mowers.
[The New York Times]
It’s unclear what military advantage there would be to storing “large quantities of sniper ammunition” and “large numbers of drones” in the DC arch. The area already has a significant military presence. But this is the same tactic Trump used to argue for his ballroom, which suddenly became a national security issue when it faced legal challenges.
Dom says it’s quick and easy to snap a propeller backback onto the HoverAir Versa, and then… it can fly! Shame that HoverAir isn’t transparently telling backers that this camera has been banned in the US, and shame on the Trump administration for creating the dumb drone ban to begin with.
A Russian drone fitted with an Nvidia chip and guided entirely by AI killed three Ukrainian civilians in July, according to the New York Times. Though AI is already a standard feature of modern warfare, with both sides of this conflict having experimented with battlefield automation, it could mark the first time AI both guided a drone and selected a target.
Empty offices. Bald-faced lies. No real consequences. Our investigation suggests it’s cheap and easy to dodge the US drone ban — but at least the FCC is revoking Odyssey Robot’s authorizations after we made the agency aware. The FCC’s order doesn’t begin to explore whether Odyssey might be DJI in disguise.
On July 21st, the FCC threatened to retroactively ban foreign crop-dusting sprayer drones because they could dispense poison, drones over 55 pounds because they could carry weapons, LiDAR and thermal camera drones and drone docks because they could enable spies. DJI wants you to tell the FCC how you feel about that. Weird times we live in:
The HoverAir Versa is the next entry from the flying selfie cam company. No date or price yet, but it should hit Indiegogo in August. I’d wait for retail: We liked X1, but X1 Pro had lots of early issues, and the company can’t legally ship its Aqua (or likely this Versa) to the US at all.
Brendan Carr’s FCC keeps approving the very drones it was supposed to ban. How did it go so wrong?
The 935-gram DJI AP100 can safely bring the pricey drone (and whatever payload it’s carrying) to the ground at a descent rate of less than 5 meters per second. The chute features its own redundant power and communications and can be deployed manually or automatically in an emergency, like when the drone leaves a predefined geocaging boundary.
The racing league has been testing it for at least two years now, and it’s ready to make its big debut. It can accelerate to 300 km/h (186 mph) in 4 seconds with a top speed of over 350 km/h (217 mph). The big challenge is keeping that up for an entire lap without exploding.
Correction June 28th: This post originally stated the race in question was the Australian GP.
The head of the top US autonomous drone maker on China, mass surveillance, and why he thinks drones can make us safer.
With imports from China effectively blocked, Israeli drone company Flytrex is opening a new “manufacturing and maintenance facility” in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the capacity to produce “thousands” of drones annually. The company says the new facility is key to its plan to open 60 new delivery sites across DFW by mid-2027. Flytrex currently operates a drone delivery service with Uber Eats and DoorDash, with some of its drones capable of delivering a couple pizzas at a time.
It’s a busy month for DJI. In addition to announcing a new Osmo Pocket model on the 16th and a new portable power solution on the 20th, the company is teasing an April 23rd reveal for a new drone lineup. Not much is known as leaks have been few and far between, but the new drones will be called the DJI Lito and Lito X1.
We’re currently testing the DJI Avata 360, the second drone to include a 360-degree camera after Insta360’s Antigravity A1. It’ll launch any day. But DJI won’t just compete on shelves: it’s also suing, claiming Insta360 hired DJI employees who gave it technology that belongs to DJI. Insta360’s CEO has responded.
[South China Morning Post]
Following leaked videos and an official teaser from DJI itself earlier this month, the company has updated its Amazon storefront with a large promotional banner for the 8K DJI Avata 360, as spotted by New Camera. The banner also specifies March 30th at 8AM EST, which differs from the March 26th timing on the teaser. Will that be when preorders open?
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Project Wing launched as a part of Google X more than a decade ago, and now, in 2026, the Alphabet subsidiary Wing is announcing drone delivery service will be available in the Bay Area soon. It hasn’t announced partners or other details yet, but says interested residents can sign up for updates here.
Minnesotans who are active in anti-ICE organizing say they’ve spotted drones in their neighborhoods — and in at least one instance, hovering right outside their houses — in recent weeks. The Department of Homeland Security won’t confirm whether the drones are theirs, but ICE has reportedly used license-plate readers and facial recognition technology to surveil activists in Minneapolis.
If you can’t wait until March 26th for the official reveal, New Camera has shared a leaked video of the DJI Avata 360 showing off its tilting camera module that works in 360-degree and FPV modes. Reliable leaker Igor Bogdanov has also shared some of the drone’s specs, including a 23-minute flight time and a 20km range.
Following the debut of Insta360’s Antigravity A1 drone last December, DJI has shared a teaser for a new drone it’s announcing on March 26th at 12PM GMT/7AM EST. The DJI Avata 360 will be the company’s first 8K 360-degree drone and a follow-up to 2024’s Avata 2. Few details are known, including whether it will launch in the US.
The ridehail company is working with Irish drone company Manna to launch a commercial drone delivery service on the Emerald Island. This is Uber’s first drone delivery deployment in Europe, although the two companies say they plan on bringing their service to more cities in the future. Uber also oversees drone delivery in Dallas, Texas, with Flytrex, while Manna used to deliver Samsung electronics via drone in its home market.
The sudden closure of El Paso airspace yesterday came after US customs officials fired an anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defense without coordination with the FAA. And, according to The New York Times, it wasn’t triggered by “Mexican cartel drones breaching US airspace” as the administration claimed:
Officials targeted what they thought was a drug cartel drone, but turned out to be a party balloon.
