Forget Weird, More Like Well-Monitored - Drones Coming to Austin

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The Statesman published a really great, in-depth story about the emerging drone industry in Austin, led by DJI Innovations, a Chinese company that’s recently set up shop in the overly-hip high tech hub.

Here’s a quick recap and critique (the story’s got some bias-I mean problems), but if you’re an Austinite, consider buying a premium online subscription to the Statesman; it’s pretty nifty.

The article discusses the many sides of drones – from vantage points for photographers wanting to get that perfect aerial shot, to inspectors of tall equipment, like telephone poles.

In addition to being versatile, they’re also affordable and easy to build:

While the Statesman gets occasionally distracted by the complex issues of privacy created by drones, it mostly focuses on how harmless and fun drones are, and reads like a long advertisement for DJI Innovations – no joke!

I, on the other hand, am not so eager to welcome commercial drones to my neighborhood when the FBI hasn’t even figured out the difference between lawful and unlawful spying yet! Seems to me, snapping photos from above can quickly turn into spying from above. Not to mention, we’re not talking puny little toy drones here. DJI Innovations is the “global leader in UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) design.”

Fortunately, drones aren’t the only ones watching our backs. So is State Rep Lance Cooden:

It intrigues me that so, so many drone-related news reports and sightings popped up right after the subject got attention from the mainstream media. Remember when a guy at SXSW told us 30,000 drones would be patrolling Austin by 2020? I highly doubt drones were that much more uncommon before CNN, Fox News and the gang acknowledged their presence and seemingly got on Obama’s case for it.

Perhaps we’re just finally opening our eyes wide enough to see them… Them?

 

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