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The new Skydio X2D has been selected as a trusted drone platform for the Department of Defense and Federal Government as part of DIU’s Blue sUAS Project. This is a major milestone in Skydio’s strategy to bring the power of its world leading autonomy engine to public sector customers.

Every public safety agency can apply to conduct the game-changing Tactical Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations that Skydio pioneered in partnership with the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD). This news means that appropriately authorized public safety agencies nationwide can send drones into areas that are too dangerous to send people.

In previous weeks, we’ve shared with you details on our new aircraft and autonomy solutions , and how they will upend a variety of drone use cases. This week, let’s dive deep into one of these use cases — Situational Awareness — to understand how Skydio autonomous drones improve outcomes and make everyone safer.

In last week’s blog, I shared with you some of the ways Skydio X2 was built to meet the needs of some of the drone industry’s most forward-thinking fleets. This week, I’d like to share some ideas about autonomy — what true autonomy is and why it matters, and how it will impact drone operations across the industry.

Skydio X2 is paired with our groundbreaking Skydio Autonomy technology. X2 builds on this proven technology we first released in October 2019 on the Skydio 2, and applies it to a ruggedized, foldable airframe with six 4K navigation cameras for 360° obstacle avoidance and a dual sensor payload that includes 12MP color and 320x256 FLIR® sensors.

Our team partnered with DRONERESPONDERS to help develop the principles, which are designed to advance the responsible and effective deployment of drones. In this post, I will highlight the importance of the principles and explain Skydio’s commitment to supporting policies and standards on the responsible use of drone technology.

We started Skydio in 2014 because we saw the incredible potential of drones to have a positive impact on the world, and thought that full autonomy — the ability to perform complex tasks without a pilot — would be key to realizing that potential.

Our focus is on advancing our mission to make the world more productive, creative, and safe. We are shaped by core values of accountability, transparency, and the protection of privacy and civil liberties.

I first met Skydio founders Adam, Abe and Matt in 2014 when I was an operating partner at a16z. The secrets they had learned and earned via their research work in Robotics and Autonomy at M.I.T. had crystalized their product vision and fueled their passion to become the world leader in autonomous drones.