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--- transportation:drones [2025/12/26 01:02] – [Ban] timb
+++ transportation:drones [2026/02/24 22:17] (current) – [Lawsuit] timb
@@ Line 1672: / Line 1672: @@
 ==== Lawsuit ====
+=== Military Relationship ===
 == Drone maker DJI sues Pentagon over ‘Chinese military company’ label ==
@@ Line 1690: / Line 1692: @@
 https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/22/dji_sues_dod/
+=== FCC Ban ===
+== DJI sues the FCC for “carelessly” restricting its drones ==
+DJI lawsuit says company has been “severely harmed by the FCC’s ruling.”
+Scharon Harding – Feb 24, 2026 1:15 PM
+DJI, the most popular consumer drone maker, is suing over the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s import ban against new, foreign-made drones, which has been in effect since December 23, 2025.
+On Tuesday, the Shenzhen-headquartered company filed a petition [PDF] with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that seeks to overturn the FCC’s decision to list DJI on its Covered List. The Covered List includes communications equipment and services that are “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,” per the FCC.
+In its petition dated February 20, 2026, DJI said:
+<blockquote>
+Petitioners seek review of the Ruling on the ground that the FCC exceeded its statutory authority, failed to observe statutorily required procedures, and violated the Fifth Amendment when it purported to add DJI’s products to the Covered List. Petitioners respectfully request his Court hold unlawful, vacate, enjoin, and set aside the Ruling and grant any other relief that the Court finds proper.
+</blockquote>
+In January, the FCC exempted a limited number of foreign-made drones, including some coming from Europe, until the end of this year. The FCC also provided exemptions for some foreign-made critical drone components, including those from Japanese companies Sony and Panasonic, and South Korean company Samsung. The FCC hasn’t exempted any drones or drone parts made in China.
+https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/dji-sues-the-fcc-for-carelessly-restricting-its-drones/
@@ Line 1824: / Line 1848: @@
+===== 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