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--- transportation:drones [2025/12/23 20:14] – [China] timb
+++ transportation:drones [2026/01/11 20:19] (current) – [Zero Zero Robotics] timb
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 https://gizmodo.com/the-u-s-has-officially-banned-new-foreign-made-drone-models-2000702978
+== Trump administration’s ban on foreign-made drones starts this week — you can say goodbye to new DJI models ==
+Lucas Ropek - 1:16 PM PST December 23, 2025
+On Monday, the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission banned all new foreign-made drone models from distribution in the U.S., citing “national security concerns.” Americans who already own older foreign drone models will still be able to use those products, the government said.
+In a fact sheet published Monday, the FCC claimed that “criminals, hostile foreign actors, and terrorists” could use drones “to present new and serious threats to our homeland.” As a result, the agency said that it had updated its Covered List — which is a list of products that have been “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security” of the country — to include all “UAS and UAS critical components produced abroad.”
+The FCC’s chairman, Brendan Carr, said Monday that he approved of the policy. “I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign drones and related components, which pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List,” Carr said. “Following President Trump’s leadership, the FCC will work closely with U.S. drone makers to unleash American drone dominance.”
+The new rule will obviously impact many different companies, but it is destined to strike a blow against Chinese drone maker DJI, which is currently considered the dominant player in drone sales globally. Indeed, DJI is considered to be one of the most popular drone brands for American consumers.
+https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/trump-administrations-ban-on-foreign-made-drones-starts-this-week-you-can-say-goodbye-to-new-dji-models/
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+===== Voltair =====
+== Self Charging Drones ==
+Voltair - Winter 2026
+Voltair builds drones that ‘perch’ like birds to recharge on power lines. For this first time, this allows for drones with infinite range. Removing battery swaps is the last step to deploy UAVs autonomously at scale. After building drones for the Air Force and DARPA, Ronan realized this was both practical and technically feasible.
+Power utilities are the perfect first customer. Drone inspections identify maintenance concerns before they cause faults. Faults cause power outages, and spark wildfires - like the Eaton Fire in early 2025 where 19 people lost their lives and nearly 10,000 structures were destroyed. Fires bankrupt utilities and make them uninsurable. Autonomous drones can deliver over 20x the inspection coverage for the same cost.
+Since June, we’ve validated our core charging tech on a power line, built 5x flying prototypes, and inspected ~2000 poles.
+After power companies, we will service rail, road, telecom, real estate and other inspection markets. Insurance and grid traders also want our data product. At scale we are a new infrastructure layer for data on the physical world.
+https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltair