Google acquires Titan Aerospace for $60 million; Facebook acquires Ascenta for $20 million; Groupe Gorgé, through ECA, acquires Infotron for $10 million and the Navy is building a new UAV center. Here’s a wrap-up of these and other UAV stories in the news:
ALREADY REPORTED:
ADDITIONAL STORIES IN THE NEWS:
Thus the forward momentum in autonomous aerial systems continues on multiple fronts: business and agricultural pursuits, defense and surveillance, research and commercialization, and philanthropic.
One takeway from the recent Xconomy RoboMadness event in Silicon Valley was this timeline:
CyPhy Works CEO Helen Greiner sees a very specific timeline for how drone applications will roll out. Today, they’re used primarily for entertainment, hobbyists and photo-taking purposes, but by 2015/2016, she says, they’ll be used for protection and inspection, by both military and commercial users. By 2017/2018 they’ll be used for evaluating and managing—observing structures, and sending drones to do jobs too dangerous for workers. By 2019, transportation—for online retailers, local stores, even restaurants. Some people have argued that Amazon Prime Air is just a publicity stunt; Greiner thinks the company is serious about it.