Hangar, a new Austin, Texas-based technology company developing an autonomous data-capture ecosystem for drones, has acquired Autoflight Logic, which makes a third-party flight automation software for DJI unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
Autoflight Logic boasts over 150,000 autonomous flights in over 190 countries conducted using its ground control software. The technology supports DJI platforms such as the Phantom 3, Phantom 4, Inspire, Matrice and new Mavic.
Hangar was recently founded by Colin Guinn, former chief revenue officer of 3D Robotics and CEO of DJI North America, and Jeffrey DeCoux, founder and CEO of eCustomers and SMART technologies. The start-up recently announced a $6.5 million seed financing led by Lux Capital.
“We said we’d come out of the gate with an aggressive plan to bring the best technology in the drone space together with our vision for an aerial data acquisition ecosystem, and that’s exactly what we’ve done here,” says Guinn, president of Hangar.
“The team from Autoflight Logic will be instrumental in developing a critical piece of our larger Hangar software platform,” adds DeCoux, Hangar’s CEO. “Advanced mission planning and complex autonomous control for multiple aerial and ground devices is just the first kernel in our plan for revolutionizing autonomous data capture.”
According to the companies, Autoflight Logic’s software will be a core component of the technology stack needed to actualize Hangar’s mission of creating an automated ecosystem for drones.
“Autoflight was one of the first development teams to take advantage of the DJI Mobile SDK,” comments Robert Schlub, vice president of research and development at DJI. “They have always been a great example of what is possible using DJI’s hardware and SDK platform, and I’m excited to see what the next chapter brings.”
The existing software will continue to be sold and supported for current users, and the Autoflight development team will join Hangar. Jim McAndrew, Autoflight’s founder, will serve as chief technology officer.
“The original vision of Autoflight Logic was to make professional aerial data capture accessible to any individual or organization, regardless of training or size. Joining forces with Hangar is the perfect opportunity to fully realize this vision in a much broader context,” says McAndrew. “By placing the core software from Autoflight Logic at the center of a global network of drones, Hangar is positioned to become the first robots-as-a-service platform. Need to deploy a sensor or move something around? There’s an API for that: Hangar.”
Drone owners are invited to sign up for Hangar’s private beta here.
