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.
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 in 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.
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.