Dronemaker DJI has unveiled the Mavic 2 Enterprise, a compact, foldable drone with a zoom camera that can be outfitted with accessories such as a beacon or loudspeaker.   The Mavic 2 Enterprise is aimed at businesses, governments, educators and other professionals, the company says, with accessories aimed at boosting its capabilities for firefighting, emergency response, law enforcement and infrastructure inspections.  

State Farm has been granted a waiver for UAS operations that will be the first of its kind for an insurance company, and will allow it to assess damage in communities effected by Hurricane Florence. The FAA has granted State Farm a waiver that combines permissions to conduct UAS flights over people and flights beyond the operator’s visual line of sight. Both of these operations are usually tightly restricted.   These provisions are approved over four states impacted by Hurricane Florence. Together, they will “dramatically enhance State Farm’s ability to evaluate hurricane damage and allocate resources,” the insurance company says.

Last year’s hurricane season was a benchmark year for the role of drones in emergency management. Harvey, Irma, and Maria all had varying characteristics that served well to showcase the benefits that unmanned aircraft systems can provide for response and recovery operations. However, the well-documented — and publicized — success of those efforts is now likely to create a new problem: well-intentioned remote pilots who self-deploy to disaster scenes hoping to help save the day.  

Airbus Aerial, the startup offshoot of commercial and defense giant Airbus, has been using its analytic tools to help insurance companies and first responders come to grips with California’s raging Carr fire, still only 61 percent contained as of Monday.   Airbus Aerial fuses satellite data with its in-house analytical systems to let insurance companies monitor areas they insure, enabling them to settle claims rapidly — in some cases, before the homeowner even knows their house has burned down.   One insurer logged into AA’s system on Friday and by Saturday had settled about a thousand claims, says AA President Jesse Kallman.    “With the satellite, it’s pretty interesting to be able to triage an entire county,” Kallman says.