In a year of general-business cost cutting to combat the COVID-19 economy, 88% of respondents to a DroneDeploy survey say they plan to increase drone investment. DroneDeploy surveyed professionals in three key industries – agriculture, construction and energy.
The results are consistent with the drone-technology supplier’s same survey last year, suggesting that even with cutting general and administration costs amidst the pandemic, companies still want to invest in drone technology. Only 4% of respondents plan to cut their drone budget.
Fifty-seven percent of construction-industry respondents to the DroneDeploy State of the Drone Industry Report 2021 indicated they plan to expand their drone use beyond aerial maps in the coming year. DroneDeploy’s analysis says this suggest a certain maturity in drone programs, as well as growth in adoption.
More insights from construction drone users:
- Construction respondents were by far the most enthusiastic about LiDAR capabilities: 47% named it as the number one feature they want to see. Twenty-seven percent said they plan to implement LiDAR capabilities into their program in 2021. This suggests that a number of drone programs are maturing at rates faster than initially anticipated.
- Insights are being taken from aerial and ground data inside DroneDeploy with 67% using annotations and measurements and 55% using Overlays (bringing in multiple types of information into one source to check QA/QC).
- Fifty-one percent of construction respondents confirmed they fly drones weekly; 15% said they fly daily.
