Workforce transformation expert Peter Brown on Tuesday helped to kick off XPONENTIAL 2021 – a virtual gathering focused on “all things unmanned” – with emphatic advice for business leaders to take the necessary measures to keep people on board.
Brown – who has more than 20 years of experience helping large, multinational organizations tackle people challenges – holds the title of Global Clients and Markets Leader at PwC. He cited a recent PwC survey of 32,500 workers in 19 countries regarding their hopes and fears about the impact of technology that found a mixture of optimism, enthusiasm and anxiety.
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The New Hybrid Experience for XPONENTIAL 2021
5 WAYS TO MAKE THE MOST OF XPONENTIAL 2021
XPONENTIAL is a globally-recognized gathering for leaders and users of unmanned technologies. Each year, it brings together thousands of the industry’s top minds—from engineers, to policymakers, to enterprise program managers—to cultivate collaboration, spark new ideas, and design the future of autonomy.
In 2020, XPONENTIAL went fully virtual in response to the global pandemic. This year, after months of careful planning, it’s officially coming back as a two-part, hybrid experience.
New Sea Machines exec brings lessons learned on the road
Moran David, the new Chief Commercial Officer for Boston-based Sea Machines, has a résum
'Disruptive Women' summit to spotlight cutting-edge AV technologies and female leaders helping to bring them to the fore
The trigger for the upcoming virtual summit, “Disruptive Women Powering Our Autonomous Future,” won’t likely make any history books, but it felt like a milestone – or at least an aha moment.
Pamela Gauci, events director for Velodyne Lidar, was reviewing the lineup for a panel discussion that was to be part of another event that the company hosts, an annual conference on safety and autonomous vehicles. With her was Sally Frykman, Velodyne Lidar’s chief marketing officer.
Neither the general topic of that other conference nor the specific topic designated for the panel – the regulatory road ahead – had anything to do with gender. Yet every expert on the list was a woman.
AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2021 Will Be Held as Hybrid Event Series
Media Contact: Michael Wilbur, mwilbur@auvsi.org
For Immediate Release: February 9, 2021
AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2021 Will Be Held as Hybrid Event Series
AeroVironment set to acquire Arcturus UAV
AeroVironment has entered into a definitive agreement that will result in the company acquiring Arcturus UAV for a total purchase price of $405 million, including $355 million in cash and $50 million in AeroVironment stock.
AeroVironment says that it expects the transaction to accelerate its strategy to drive profitable growth and value by expanding into attractive adjacent segments and by broadening its capabilities and customer footprint.
Draganfly awarded new patent for VTOL cargo delivery drone
Draganfly has been awarded a new patent for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) cargo delivery drone with variable center of gravity.
According to Draganfly, the design is ideal for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, and for transporting goods in hard to reach areas or flight over people at night.
“With the signing of a signature customer and now this key industry patent we are confident in our role as an important global player in drone delivery space,” says Cameron Chell, CEO of Draganfly.
“This showcases Draganfly’s continued focus on IP and highlights the strength and innovation of our engineering team.”
Huntington Ingalls Industries acquires autonomy business of Spatial Integrated Systems
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is expanding its unmanned systems capabilities with a highly skilled team and proven USV solutions through its acquisition of the autonomy business of Spatial Integrated Systems Inc. (SIS), which HII announced on Monday, Jan. 4.
The transaction closed on Dec. 31, 2020 and approximately 50 employees from SIS, primarily located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, have joined HII Technical Solutions’ Unmanned Systems business group. HII broke ground on its new HII Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence in nearby Hampton, Virginia in Sept. 2020.
Iris Automation to use latest funding to improve Casia DAA system, continue participation in BEYOND program
Iris Automation has closed a successful round of $13 million in Series B venture capital funding.
Known for its Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) system, Casia, Iris Automation will use this latest investment for several initiatives, including to expand machine learning and AI capabilities and testing to improve and extend the Casia system’s performance envelope; to continue to improve detection and classification capabilities of the Casia system to support expanded use cases, operational environments and aircraft compatibility; and to build out fulfillment capabilities to produce, deliver and support the growing installed base of aircraft OEM partners and end use customers, and enter new markets associated with aircraft safety.
Plus expands strategic partnership with Full Truck Alliance
Self-driving truck tech company Plus (formerly Plus.ai) has announced an expansion of its strategic partnership with Full Truck Alliance (FTA).
Through this partnership, the FAW J7+ truck will be available for sale on FTA’s platform, which will give Plus access to a sales channel that handled transactions for over 10 million truckers and five million shippers this year alone. Powered by the Plus automated driving system, the truck is going into mass production in 2021.
Plus and FTA will collaborate to help shippers in China reduce costs, improve safety and driver comfort, and increase efficiency.
