Skydio Stops Selling Consumer Drones

Skydio, maker of probably the most autonomous client drone there ever was, has introduced that it’s getting out of the consumer-drone house utterly, as of this previous week. The firm shall be specializing in “over 1,500 enterprise and public sector customers” which might be, to be truthful, doing many helpful and vital issues with Skydio drones relatively than simply capturing movies of themselves like the remainder of us. Sigh.

By lots of metrics, the Skydio 2 is (was?) probably the most succesful drone that was doable for a client to get. Lots of drones promote impediment avoidance, however in my expertise, none of them got here wherever near the way in which that Skydio’s drones are capable of effortlessly slide round even complicated obstacles whereas reliably monitoring you at pace. Being capable of (nearly) utterly belief the drone to fly itself and movie you when you ignored it was a magical expertise that I don’t assume another client drone can provide. It’s uncommon that robots can function actually autonomously in unstructured environments, and the Skydio 2 might have been the primary robotic to convey that to the patron house. This functionality blew my thoughts even when reviewing a really early prototype in 2016, and it nonetheless does.

But Skydio doesn’t exist solely to blow my thoughts, which is unlucky for me however in all probability wholesome for them. Instead, the corporate is focusing extra on the general public sector, the navy, and enterprise prospects, which have been utilizing Skydio drones in every kind of public-safety and inspection functions. In addition to its know-how, Skydio has an edge in that it’s considered one of only a handful of home drone producers authorized by the Department of Defense.

The influence we’re having with our enterprise and public sector prospects has develop into so compelling that it calls for nothing lower than our full focus and a focus. As a end result, I’ve made the very tough choice to sundown our client enterprise as a way to put all the pieces we’ve obtained into serving our enterprise and public sector prospects. —Adam Bry, Skydio CEO

So as of now, you may now not purchase a client Skydio 2 from Skydio.

The much less horrible information is that Skydio has promised to proceed to help current consumer-drone prospects:

We stand by all guarantee phrases, Skydio Care, and can proceed car repairs. Additionally, we are going to retain stock of equipment for so long as we are able to to help the necessity for substitute batteries, propellers, charging cables, and so forth.

And because the Skydio 2+ continues to be being produced on the market for enterprise prospects, it looks as if these components and equipment could also be accessible longer than they’d be in any other case.

If you don’t have a Skydio 2 client drone and also you desperately need one, there aren’t lots of good choices. Last time we checked, the Skydio 2+ enterprise equipment was US $5,000. Most of that worth is in software program and help, because the client version of the Skydio 2+ with comparable equipment was nearer to US $2,400. That leaves shopping for a Skydio 2 used, or no less than shopping for one from a supply aside from Skydio. At the second, there are a few Skydio 2 drones on eBay, considered one of which is being marketed as new.

Lastly, there’s some very tenuous suggestion that Skydio is probably not executed with the consumer-drone house without end. In an FAQ on the corporate’s web site in regards to the change in technique, Skydio says they don’t explicitly rule out a future client drone. Rather, they’re saying solely that “we are not able to share any updates about our future product roadmap.” So I’m simply going to cross my fingers and assume {that a} Skydio 3 should at some point be on the way in which.