Chinese-made DJI drones widely adopted by US safety agencies even as Trump administration voices data security concerns

DJI controls more than 70% of the global commercial and consumer drone market and generated sales of US$2.7bil in 2017.

US public safety agencies are rapidly adopting unmanned aircraft from Chinese drone maker DJI Technologies even as the Trump administration voices security concerns that the devices could be sending sensitive surveillance data back to China.

“Between 2015 and 2018 we have seen 500 per cent growth of drone adoption by public safety agencies in the US,” Jan Gasparic, director of strategic partnerships at DJI, said at the RISE tech conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday. “The reason for such a fast rate is because this technology has a transformative impact on the type of work they do.”