Drone as First Responder: Axon and Skydio Launch Solution

New Offering Enhances Drone as First Responder Capabilities for Emergency Response
Axon, a global leader in public safety technology, and Skydio, a premier U.S. drone manufacturer, have announced a new end-to-end offering aimed at enhancing the use of drones in public safety. This comprehensive solution focuses on the Drone as First Responder (DFR) program, enabling public safety agencies to deploy remotely piloted drones to emergency calls, often arriving before ground units to provide real-time situational awareness.
The DFR program aims to improve incident response times, ensure safer response strategies for officers and the community, and optimize resource allocation. In addition to emergency responses, drones play a crucial role in locating suspects and missing persons, de-risking vehicle stops, documenting incident scenes, and collecting evidence. A successful DFR program can significantly contribute to de-escalating incidents and enhancing community safety.

This strategic alliance leverages Skydio’s cutting-edge drone technology and Axon’s suite of public safety products to bring the DFR vision to life. The offering includes U.S.-made autonomous drones, onsite docking stations, and integrated flight control software from Skydio. Axon complements these with real-time operations, real-time crime center (RTCC) capabilities, evidence management, and fleet and program management through Axon Air powered by DroneSense. Additionally, Dedrone’s innovative technology provides airspace awareness and deconfliction, enabling DFR operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) without visual observers.
Skydio Dock
 
Rick Smith, Axon’s Founder and CEO, emphasized the transformative potential of this collaboration: “Drones are the future of public safety. If we can provide first responders more time, more information and, effectively, more resources, we can drastically improve the way they protect our communities. Skydio is the best drone technology partner to support our customers to further realize the value of DFR and will be a key component to our ultimate goal of protecting more lives in more places, including those of our officers.”
Skydio’s CEO, Adam Bry, highlighted the alignment of the two companies’ missions: “Skydio’s mission to make the world more productive and safe through autonomous flight is perfectly matched with Axon’s mission to protect life. This is an exciting time for drones in public safety, as their impact expands from smaller, specialized teams to fundamentally transforming the nature of first response. We couldn’t be more excited to deepen our partnership with Axon and bring to life our shared vision of making communities across the country, and around the world, safer.”
The new offering provides public safety agencies with the flexibility to customize and scale their drone and DFR programs according to their unique needs and operational requirements. This comprehensive solution is designed to integrate seamlessly with various hardware and software options, ensuring that each agency can tailor its drone program effectively.
For further details on the role of drones and DFR in enhancing public safety, visit Axon’s and Skydio’s latest blog posts. To explore drone solutions and DFR programs, visit www.axon.com/contact/drones.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry.  Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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