Summary
Chinese drone company DJI has removed its geofencing feature that automatically restricted drone flights over sensitive areas, like airports, wildfires, and government buildings, replacing it with dismissible warnings.
The decision follows growing distrust in Chinese-made drones and U.S. regulatory changes.
DJI argues this empowers operators while aligning with global standards, but critics worry it could endanger safety, particularly for unaware pilots.
Previously, geofencing helped prevent incidents, like a DJI drone crash at the White House in 2015.
Ahh, drones. The newest boogieman that nobody understands but is an expert on…
While this is a bad move on DJI’s part, maybe it will also force some changes to drone related security.
Fencing on just the user end only protects against Uncle Bob and his ignorance, not someone actually ill intentioned.
The drones a terrorist would use to attack a government building doesn’t even have GPS. They’d build racing drones, not use an off-the-shelf camera drone
Exactly what I’m saying.
Geo fencing is only one layer of defense. It’s necessary and useful to some degree, but it should be a part of a whole system. It’s place in the system is literally that of a fence.
The most sensitive places are going to need some active form of defense. There are fiber optic drones, good luck even trying to scramble them.
I just hope one of the layers is falcons.
Yep! That said, that drone flying into a plane over the wildfires is a pretty great example of why geofencing SHOULD exist. You don’t have to have malicious intent to cause destruction…I can see someone’s drone getting sucked into an engine while they’re trying to get an amazing shot of a plane taking off
Aren’t there TFRs over fire fighting activities?
Also, any semi-busy to busy airport is generally towered. If you are flying into controlled air space without talking to tower…. You’re going to get charged with a federal crime
So they want sale and ownership of their drones to be banned in the US and eventually Europe
US drone manufacturers don’t do this. DJI was going “above and beyond” here. And it is annoying to users because their fencing was broader than what the FAA allows.
Let idiots get their expensive toys taken away if they want.
This goes way beyond toys. Geofencing does things like stop people flying drones into nuclear power plants. The DJI Mavic can hold up to 30 kg. More than enough for a lot of explosive material.
Where are you getting 30KG?
https://enterprise.dji.com/mobile/mavic-3-enterprise/specs?startPoint=312
The highest takeoff weight I can find on their site is the Matrice 600 Pro at 15kg, but 10 of that is the drone and its batteries.
I guess Google lied to me.
If someone is going to fly explosives somewhere they will simply buy a drone that isn’t DJI. It’s not hard to get around the geofencing if you really want to.
The only benefits to the geofencing was to prevent people from flying around in areas they didn’t bother to research and find out was actually somewhere they shouldn’t be flying.
Making it easier to blow things up seems bad.
This doesn’t make it any easier to blow things up. Any drone made from any US manufacturer can be used if you want to blow things up.
What this DOES do is help morons who don’t understand the consequences of their actions do stupid stuff. DJI is the most popular brand, so most morons who are doing stupid stuff with drones are probably using DJI. The people who understand drones better are less likely to use DJI. So the guy who thinks it’s a good idea to fly near wild fires or fly over a major airport is now more likely to cause trouble.
Apparently, US manufacturers don’t use geofencing at all, so it was never difficult in the first place. This just means one more manufacturer who doesn’t.
