Skydio

Skydio is the leading US-built autonomous drone manufacturer. Founded in 2014 by MIT graduates Adam Bry, Abe Bachrach, and Matt Donahoe, the company has raised over $750 million in funding and reached unicorn valuation. Skydio drones are used for industrial inspection, public safety, and defense — the autonomous flight stack distinguishes Skydio from manual-flight DJI consumer drones. Operators tell the drone where to go and what to inspect; the drone handles the actual flying via 6+ navigation cameras, onboard NVIDIA processing, and SLAM-based environmental mapping. The company exited consumer drones in 2023 to focus on three segments. Enterprise inspection serves utilities, transportation departments, and infrastructure operators for bridge, transmission-line, and building-envelope inspection. Public safety deployments include Drone-as-First-Responder programs in Chula Vista (CA), Daytona Beach (FL), and dozens of other municipalities, where docked drones autonomously fly to 911 incident scenes ahead of officers. Defense customers buy the X10D — the FRC-trusted, encrypted-comms, Department of Defense Blue UAS-approved variant — for short-range tactical reconnaissance where China-built DJI hardware is unacceptable. Skydio has benefited substantially from the policy environment around DJI restrictions in US federal and critical-infrastructure markets, becoming the dominant US-built alternative for enterprise and government customers. The company's autonomous flight stack remains the most-deployed in commercial drones, with structured inspection patterns that automate bridge + tower + facade walks without operator input.