Skydio, maker of essentially the most autonomous client drone there ever was, has introduced that it’s getting out of the consumer-drone house fully, as of this previous week. The corporate can be specializing in “over 1,500 enterprise and public sector prospects” which are, to be honest, doing many helpful and necessary issues with Skydio drones reasonably than simply taking pictures movies of themselves like the remainder of us. Sigh.

By loads of metrics, the Skydio 2 is (was?) essentially the most succesful drone that was attainable for a client to get. Plenty of drones promote impediment avoidance, however in my expertise, none of them got here anyplace near the way in which that Skydio’s drones are capable of effortlessly slide round even complicated obstacles whereas reliably monitoring you at pace. With the ability to (virtually) fully belief the drone to fly itself and movie you whilst you ignored it was a magical expertise that I don’t assume every other client drone can supply. It’s uncommon that robots can function really autonomously in unstructured environments, and the Skydio 2 could have been the primary robotic to convey that to the patron house. This functionality blew my thoughts even when reviewing a really early prototype in 2016, and it nonetheless does.

However Skydio doesn’t exist solely to blow my thoughts, which is unlucky for me however in all probability wholesome for them. As a substitute, the corporate is focusing extra on the general public sector, the army, and enterprise prospects, which have been utilizing Skydio drones in all types of public-safety and inspection functions. Along with its expertise, Skydio has an edge in that it’s one in every of only a handful of home drone producers accredited by the Division of Protection.

The influence we’re having with our enterprise and public sector prospects has turn out to be so compelling that it calls for nothing lower than our full focus and a spotlight. Because of this, I’ve made the very tough determination to sundown our client enterprise as a way to put all the things we’ve bought into serving our enterprise and public sector prospects. —Adam Bry, Skydio CEO

In order of now, you’ll be able to now not purchase a client Skydio 2 from Skydio.

The much less horrible information is that Skydio has promised to proceed to assist present consumer-drone prospects:

We stand by all guarantee phrases, Skydio Care, and can proceed automobile repairs. Moreover, we are going to retain stock of equipment for so long as we are able to to assist the necessity for alternative batteries, propellers, charging cables, and many others.

And for the reason that Skydio 2+ remains to be being produced on the market for enterprise prospects, it looks like these elements and equipment could also be out there longer than they might be in any other case.

Should you don’t have a Skydio 2 client drone and also you desperately need one, there aren’t loads of good choices. Final time we checked, the Skydio 2+ enterprise package was US $5,000. Most of that worth is in software program and assist, for the reason that client version of the Skydio 2+ with comparable equipment was nearer to US $2,400. That leaves shopping for a Skydio 2 used, or not less than shopping for one from a supply apart from Skydio. In the intervening time, there are a few Skydio 2 drones on eBay, one in every of which is being marketed as new.

Lastly, there may be some very tenuous suggestion that Skydio might not be executed with the consumer-drone house ceaselessly. In an FAQ on the corporate’s web site in regards to the change in technique, Skydio says they don’t explicitly rule out a future client drone. Somewhat, they’re saying solely that “we aren’t capable of share any updates about our future product roadmap.” So I’m simply going to cross my fingers and assume {that a} Skydio 3 should at some point be on the way in which.