Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has been prohibited from exhibiting at XPonential 2023, one of the most significant trade shows in the drone industry, due to policies enacted by the event organizers, AUVSI.
Updated at 9:18 pm with a response from DJI. See below
Earlier this year, DroneXL reported that DJI was banned from CES 2023 for human rights voilations. Now, AUVSI’s XPonential 2023 has implemented similar policies preventing DJI from exhibiting at the conference.
DJI prohibited from exhibiting
DroneXL contacted the event organizers and received the following response: “XPONENTIAL has formally implemented policies prohibiting companies from exhibiting if they are on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List.”
This also means that the drone maker is no longer allowed to be an AUVSI member.
DJI previously held a seat on the AUVSI board of directors from 2017 to 2020. It remains to be seen if DJI will be banned from exhibiting at other major drone conferences in the future.
Interestingly, DJI was able to work with DJI reseller, DSLR Pros to at least have some presence at the event. Furthermore several (former) DJI employees were present at XPonential 2023.
DJI issues an official response
We have reached out to DJI for comment on this matter and just received the following statement:
DJI has done nothing to deserve being placed on any Entity list, and the unilateral decision by AUVSI to ban our company from their event is regrettable.
As a leading commercial drone company, we have made a significant contribution to promote the commercial drone integration and the industry around it.
We had hoped this event would serve as an unbiased professional gathering where knowledge and ideas could be shared in the interest of advancing the world’s drone industry. Unfortunately, AUVSI has turned it into a political event.
DJI employees are attending the event this year to support our dealers and distributors, who have their own booths to display the latest drone technologies. We will continue to support our US partners and customers the same way we have been doing for many years.
