Technology · Zipline
Zipline Taught Its Drones to Dive for Speed, and They Got Quieter
A Zipline software update has its drones dive to build speed and climb to brake. Here is why gravity makes them faster, quieter and cooler.
Technology
Sensors, batteries, LiDAR, obstacle avoidance, and the engineering that moves the industry forward.
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Drone technology coverage tracks the hardware and software layer underneath specific products, the sensors, autonomy systems and airframe designs that determine what any given drone can actually do.
Autonomy and AI are the fastest-moving piece of it, and not always in a reassuring direction: an Nvidia Jetson chip guided the Russian AI drone that killed three Ukrainians near Zaporizhzhia, showing how quickly commercial AI hardware ends up in targeting systems. On the research side, DARPA’s Lift Challenge results showed a conventional helicopter design beating experimental lift concepts at a 3.84:1 ratio, a reminder that not every technology bet pays off on schedule.
LiDAR has grown from a niche surveying payload into one of the largest technology desks on the site, and VTOL and eVTOL aircraft are developing into a genuinely separate industry from rotor-based consumer drones. Sensor technology keeps expanding what a drone can be used for in unexpected ways too: Rainmaker says its cloud-seeding drones made 143 million gallons of rain, and Florida calls the practice a felony, a case that sits at the intersection of drone technology and state law neither side anticipated.
Artificial Intelligence, thermal sensing and UTM airspace management round out the desk. Every drone technology story is in the feed below.
Key facts
- What this covers
- The underlying technology behind drones, not the products built on it: AI, LiDAR, VTOL and eVTOL airframes, thermal sensing and airspace management
- Largest sub-desk
- Artificial Intelligence, followed by LiDAR and VTOL, reflecting where the fastest technical change is happening
- The double-edged story
- The same AI and autonomy advances covered here for commercial mapping and delivery are also showing up in battlefield targeting systems
Start here
Last updated September 11, 2026 — the feed below updates with every new story.
Ukraine
Eric Schmidt Warns Ukraine's Drone Edge Is Gone. He Sells the Fix
Schmidt's Washington Post op-ed says Ukraine's innovation edge is losing to Russian mass. His byline omits Swift Beat, the drone maker he runs.
Counter-Drone
1,500 US Agencies Are About To Get Counter-Drone Powers
A new federal rule lets certified local agencies detect and disable drones. The government expects about 1,500 of them to sign up within two years.
DOCKET 26-189
I Scored Every FCC Drone Ban Comment. On the Money Question It Was 1,701 to One.
Pilot Institute coded all 3,824 readable filings in FCC docket 26-189 against the 11 questions the Commission actually asked. Here is what the record says.
DOCKET 26-189
FCC Drone Ban Comments Counted: 3,770 Against, 16 For
Pilot Institute read and coded all 3,824 filings in FCC docket 26-189. 98.6% oppose the military-grade drone ban as written. Sixteen support it.
FCC Ban
DJI Tells FCC Its 'Military-Grade' Drone Ban Was Invented In-House
DJI's 26-page filing, signed by a former U.S. Solicitor General, says no security agency ever endorsed the FCC's seven military-grade drone categories.
Drones for Good
NSW Shark Drones Log 750 Sightings in 8 Weeks as 51 Nets Go Back In
Surf Life Saving NSW now flies 73 shark drones over 97 beaches after 750 winter sightings. The nets went back in the same day the drone hours grew.
FCC Ban
DJI Fills Its Vegas Booth With Drones The FCC Proposed Banning
Every aircraft on DJI Enterprise's Commercial UAV Expo stand falls inside the FCC's proposed military-grade definition. Comments close today.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as drone technology coverage versus a product review?
This desk covers the underlying capability, an AI targeting model, a LiDAR sensor, a VTOL airframe design, rather than a specific consumer drone. A DJI Mini 5 Pro review lives on the DJI desk; a story about the AI chip guiding a targeting system lives here.
Why is LiDAR such a large part of drone technology coverage?
LiDAR has moved from a specialist surveying tool to a mainstream mapping and inspection payload fast enough that it now generates more coverage volume than most single technology categories, tracked separately from general drone hardware news.
What is the difference between VTOL and eVTOL coverage here?
VTOL covers vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing drones generally, gas or electric, used for long-range mapping and delivery. eVTOL specifically covers electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, including the passenger-carrying air taxi category, which is developing into its own industry.
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