China crackdown brings drone users down to earth

{"text":[[{"start":7.1,"text":"As China introduced tough new controls on drone use this year, owners flocked to second-hand retailer Leyishou to sell their now unwanted machines, according to company vice-president Liu Zhenyu."}],[{"start":19.45,"text":"“A lot of people dumped them,” said Liu, describing the impact of national and city-level regulations that sent shudders through China’s $26bn drone market. “Prices basically fell by 30 per cent . . . you couldn’t shift new drones.”"}],[{"start":34.95,"text":"China dominates the production of commercial drones. Among major brands, Shenzhen-based DJI alone accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of the global market for non-military, non-governmental use, according to Drone Industry Insights."}],[{"start":49.650000000000006,"text":"But suppliers at China’s largest drone expo in the southern city of Shenzhen last month — where more than 1,200 companies displayed wares from small hobby drones to van-sized industrial aircraft — expressed concern that tighter rules could put the brakes on a fast-growing sector."}],[{"start":67.45,"text":"“In this environment, if you’re making drones, it’s very difficult,” said Dong Honglong, of Shantou Shengze Intelligent Manufacturing. “Every factory is struggling.”"}],[{"start":78.3,"text":"Dong said his company had suffered falling demand this year despite slashing prices by more than half and was losing money on each drone."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":87.05,"text":"Under tighter national rules imposed in May — which the government says are needed for the industry’s “safe and orderly development” — owners must register almost all drones with local authorities, transmit real-time flight data and get approval in advance for flights in extensive restricted zones in most cities."}],[{"start":107.1,"text":"Beijing, home to some of China’s most sensitive government and military sites, has tightly restricted drone ownership and almost all flights. Most shipments of drones to the capital are forbidden."}],[{"start":119.25,"text":"Revisions to China’s civil aviation law, due to take effect next month, will require many companies “engaged in the design, production, import, maintenance and operation” of drones to apply for airworthiness certification."}],[{"start":133.2,"text":"Analysts said China remained determined to develop a “low-altitude economy” of activities taking place at up to 1,000 metres above the ground. The country’s aviation regulator expects the sector, including flying cars and taxis, to grow to Rmb3.5tn ($520bn) by 2035 from about Rmb1tn this year."}],[{"start":155.29999999999998,"text":"“China does not want this uncontrolled sky full of different drone activities, but it wants a very distinct logistics network of cargo UAVs, for example,” said Emerson Xu, chief executive of aviation consultancy NexAvian, adding authorities were also interested in inspection and emergency response drones."}],[{"start":173.99999999999997,"text":"“If you are a hobbyist, there is no approval pathway for recreational flight, so that effectively stops inside Beijing,” said Jenny Meszaros, founder of China eVTOL News. But she argued that tighter rules would create a regulated environment in sectors such as agriculture and emergency response. “Without registration, there is no foundation for commercial scale.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":195.34999999999997,"text":"Numerous producers, particularly those that have moved towards larger-scale industrial, military or commercial applications, agreed the rules would encourage a shift away from supplying the consumer market."}],[{"start":206.14999999999998,"text":"Wu, a 27-year-old engineer at Sichuan Hehui Youxiang Technology who declined to give his full name, said “consumer drones” made up about half of the company’s sales this year, down from 60 to 70 per cent two years ago."}],[{"start":222.45,"text":"“It will probably continue to decrease,” he said. “Low-level hobbyists and some smaller companies will probably be facing more difficulties now.”"}],[{"start":231,"text":"Beijing’s rules in particular had pushed some companies to workarounds, said Tiger Hu, chief executive of Beijing Visbot Technology. To continue shipping drones from its factory in nearby Hebei province to the capital, where it has its research base, Visbot changed its registered address to Yanqing, an outer-city district near the Great Wall where authorities are opening a dedicated drone flight zone."}],[{"start":254.3,"text":"The “very strict” rules in the capital could lead many companies to shift their bases elsewhere, but it would be more difficult for a research-focused company like his. “The technical talent is in Beijing,” said Hu."}],[{"start":267.05,"text":"The new rules are also a pain for those who keep drones for personal or recreational use."}],[{"start":272.7,"text":"Chen Yuquan, a representative for racing drone retailer DarwinFPV and keen drone hobbyist, said he had moved from Beijing to his current job in Shenzhen partly because of the southern tech hub’s looser rules on UAVs."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":287.09999999999997,"text":"Previously, he had been able to fly his drones in the parking garage below his building, so long as there were no cars there, Chen said. But the capital’s tighter restrictions made that untenable, he said. “They weren’t as strict as after the May 1 ban.”"}],[{"start":302.99999999999994,"text":"Wang Zhen, chief operating officer at Beijing-based Hisingy, said he had sent some of his personal drone collection to the company’s research base in Shenzhen to avoid falling foul of rules that designated any site with more than three drones as a storage facility."}],[{"start":318.29999999999995,"text":"But Wang said he understood the need for the new restrictions, which he attributed to the potential lethality of UAVs demonstrated in conflicts in Iran and Ukraine."}],[{"start":328.19999999999993,"text":"“In the end a drone has exactly the same combat effectiveness as a gun, or possibly even more,” he said. “The US has gun licences, right? But what if they allowed guns without licences? It would be chaos.”"}],[{"start":341.5999999999999,"text":"Additional contributions by Shihuan Chen in Shenzhen"}],[{"start":350.2499999999999,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1781092127_4518.mp3"}