What the future of the commercial drone industry will look like in 2021?

Recent advances in technology have accelerated the development and proliferation of commercial drones. They are being used across diverse industries, helping companies to save capital, improve safety and enhance the efficiency of their operations. The proliferation of drones is also significantly driven by growing investments in unmanned aerial systems. Drones have a myriad of commercial applications such as surveillance, photography, or videos. They are already transforming daily work in complex industries.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), commercial drone use will witness a tremendous rise by 2021, growing from 42,000 vehicles to 442,000 throughout the predicted timeframe, with the possibility of 1.6 million drones in use by then.

As we are moving to the new year, more and more dramatic changes could be in store for commercial drones as innovators explore new uses. 

Let’s have a look at the top trends redefining the future of commercial drones in 2021.

Growing Drone Use in the U.S.

The use of commercial drones within the United States will see a rapid upward trend. According to a McKinsey report, the country has been a particularly strong source of commercial growth, with the value of drone activity rising from US$40 million in 2012 to about US$1 billion in 2017. Besides, it predicts that commercial drones, both corporate and consumer applications, will have an annual impact of US$31 billion to US$46 billion on the country’s GDP by 2026.

Drone-Enabled IoT

Drones are an imperative form of IoT devices, flying autonomously in the sky with network connectivity. These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) work dynamically for IoT devices that glean data and communicate it to other devices out of the communication ranges. Drone-powered IoT delivers substantial benefits such as deployment at remote locations, the ability to carry flexible payloads, re-programmability during tasks, and the ability to sense for anything from anywhere.

Heightened Drones Spending

As drones have transformed our way of looking at things by providing aerial views of a certain location, investment in this technology is soaring exponentially. Considering reports, drone companies are attracting record investments from large companies and it continues growing. For instance, Skydio, a fully autonomous drone services provider, in July this year raised a mammoth amount of US$100 million. Conversely, Drone Defence in August secured around €550,000 in seed funding to develop proprietary drone detection technology, which combats the emerging drone threat.

UX-Focused Drones

To improve safety for drone control, companies are now building user-centric control software that will also improve pilot performance. A report found that current user interfaces used in some drones make it challenging for pilots to perceive hazards and react appropriately. Advances in commercial uses of drones, such as in film-making and merchandise delivery, has led to a surge in drone-related accidents causing damage to property as well as harm to humans. To address these issues, user-centric drone control interfaces are now becoming inevitable.