{"id":3699,"date":"2017-02-23T14:47:45","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T14:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/airmap-raises-26-million-to-manage-air-traffic-as-drone-use-surges.html"},"modified":"2017-02-23T14:47:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T14:47:45","slug":"airmap-raises-26-million-to-manage-air-traffic-as-drone-use-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/airmap-raises-26-million-to-manage-air-traffic-as-drone-use-surges.html","title":{"rendered":"AirMap raises $26 million to manage air traffic as drone use surges"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Lower airspace isn\u2019t crowded with drones quite yet. But as drones become more pervasive, a startup called AirMap<\/a> is building software and systems to help drone operators fly only where it\u2019s safe and legal to do so.<\/p>\n

The task will prove completely different from that of managing airliners as we do today, says AirMap CEO and cofounder Ben Marcus who is also serving as the co-chair for the FAA\u2019s Industry Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team. \u201cThere are about 10,000 airplane flights happening at once on any given day. Human beings are able to manage all the traffic. But that won\u2019t scale to manage millions of drones and billions of flights.\u201d There are already an estimated 100,000 drone flights taking place per day.<\/p>\n

Additionally, drones are becoming more and more autonomous. When they are technologically and legally able to fly without a human pilot monitoring them at every moment, AirMap wants to be able to feed them information about the safest routes to fly, taking into consideration not just static rules, terrain and obstacles, but shifting traffic conditions, weather, temporary flight restrictions and more.<\/p>\n

The company offers an app directly to drone users that can help them plan a safe flight. But more importantly, AirMap works with drone makers, regulators and airports who use the startup\u2019s systems to understand where drones are flying, and to ping them or geofence and bar them from flying where it\u2019s not safe for them to be. Marcus said 80% of the worlds\u2019 drones are using AirMap today for geofencing and to alert operators of airspace conditions. Drone makers who have integrated AirMap\u2019s technology into their products include Yuneec, a new investor in AirMap, industry leaders DJI, Intel, AeryonLabs and others.<\/p>\n

Today, AirMap announced that it has raised $26 million in a Series B round of venture funding led by Microsoft Ventures to build out its airspace and air traffic management platforms. Microsoft was joined by other strategic backers from across the drone industry including: Airbus Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Rakuten, Sony, and Yuneec. AirMap\u2019s earlier backers, General Catalyst and Lux Capital, also participated.<\/p>\n

AirMap intends to use the funding to open new offices and further develop its airspace management and air traffic management systems, and to open new offices around the world. With headquarters remaining in Santa Monica, AirMap is planning specifically to open an office in Berlin, and another offices at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.<\/p>\n

Airbus Ventures<\/a> CEO Thomas d\u2019Halluin said, \u201cThere\u2019s so much congestion on roads, and the world population is growing. The organization of airspace will define the future of mobility and help solve that problem of congestion. But you cannot fly people and things without safety first. The drone industry started out with people flying their toys in their own little corner. What AirMap introduces is a flow of accurate information that lets them see and communicate about critical issues so they can fly wherever they need to. They can know don\u2019t fly this area, you\u2019re not the priority here please move aside, or you\u2019re good here, fly safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said investors expect AirMap to use its funding to make its systems better-known to all players in and around the drone industry. \u201cThe next stage is about showing the world we will be safer if we deploy AirMap technology, and work together to share information and regulate all these new flying objects in lower airspace.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Bryce Durbin<\/small><\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunchIt\/~3\/bzSuX_NqPlU\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lower airspace isn\u2019t crowded with drones quite yet. But as drones become more pervasive, a startup called AirMap is building software and systems to help drone operators fly only where <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-3699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enterprise-software","tag-enterprise"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t