The Next Five Years In The World Of Drones

The Next Five Years In The World Of Drones

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Now that drones are not only a cool and expensive gadget or an operational instrument for the military, but everywhere around us, Business Insider decided to take a look at how the drone market is expected to change in the five coming years.

The report, issued by BI Intelligence, delves deep into “the growing global industry for commercial drones,” and gives us several interesting predictions.

Most growth in the drone industry, the report says, will come from the commercial side, as the military side of the market is quite mature at this stage and momentum is shifting to civilian markets.

The industries that will dominate the commercial drone market will be related to energy, utilities, agriculture, construction, mining, real estate, news media, and film production. By contrast, despite the hype, BI Intelligence predicts that package delivery will not be a major component of the drone market in the near-term.

Established drone manufacturers should be worried about complacency, as their position in the military drone market doesn’t provide them with a distinct advantage when it comes to civilian applications, and the fast-growing market could leave them behind.

The commercial drone industry is young, BI writes, but consolidation is already happening. Many of the major players in the commercial market are growing outside of the United States, and include: “Switzerland-based senseFly (owned by France-based Parrot), Canadian firm Aeryon, publicly traded Swedish firm CybAero, Shenzhen, China-based DJI, and Korea-based Gryphon.”

There is some hope for US firms, however, as the restrictions on commercial-drone operation in the US are expected to be eased by early 2017, and widespread commercial drone flight could become routine in that year.