Commercial Drone Market Competitive Intelligence, 2018 - Artificial Intelligence Companies

Autonomous Drones will Require Robust Artificial Intelligence Capabilities and the Race to Develop the Best Solutions is Heating Up

Drones will become increasingly autonomous while acquiring larger amounts of data. To enable autonomy and to rapidly identify and process the most pertinent data, drone platforms will need to utilize artificial intelligence (AI). This research study focuses on 18 companies competing to develop AI-enabled drone solutions for a multitude of commercial applications. AI encompasses the concepts of computer vision, machine learning, and deep learning. It requires the development of advanced algorithms and training models by humans to enable machines to make decisions on their own. Companies in the AI segment within the commercial drones market provide AI-driven hardware (drones), AI-focused software, or both to customers. Firms that only integrate AI or use another company’s AI platform to provide a third-party service are not included in this research service.

The study does not also cover every company that participates in the AI for drones market. Analysts have made every attempt to include relevant companies that are most likely to compete in the market for building AI-enabled drones or the software to allow existing drones to utilize AI for autonomous operation, data collection, data processing, or any combination of those capabilities.

Each competitor is profiled separately and each profile contains information about where the company is located, when it was established, important partnerships it has established, a description of the company’s products, and other pertinent business details.

From the information gathered for developing profiles, each company is evaluated under the following categories:

• Product: How well does the product function and/or how robust is the design? Where is the product, or products, in the development cycle?
• Management: What is the kind of experience that the management teams have in directing start-ups and in the technology areas required for AI?
• Business Plan: Does the business plan revolve around hardware/software sales or subscriptions and can the plan be scaled? Are there any significant partnerships that can create synergies to give the company a competitive advantage?
• Funding: How much investment capital has the company raised to date? Is the company part of a larger company that can support its growth?

Once evaluated, the companies are ranked and ordered in a heat map to show which are the most likely to be the most successful.

In addition, growth opportunities within the market are discussed, along with useful recommendations. Explanations of market challenges and trends are also included. The study wraps up with a set of insightful conclusions.