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  • October 2015 (Revised September 2016)
  • Technical Note
  • HBS Case Collection

Flight: Now without Humans Aboard

By: Mitchell Weiss, Karim Lakhani, HT Kung and Kerry Herman
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:38
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Abstract

This note provides an overview of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) industry in September 2015. UAVs offered many potential applications in industries as diverse as aerial imaging and photography, agriculture, construction, infrastructure inspection and monitoring, logistics or commercial payload delivery, and search and rescue and disaster relief. The pace of software and hardware innovation in the sector was transforming UAV capabilities on a rapid basis. Yet regulatory uncertainty and issues around ethics, privacy and security remained. As UAVs gained ground, an ecosystem had begun to take shape that included players in insurance, data analytics, law, and component developments, to name a few. Some players favored an open approach, others pushed toward a more closed ecosystem. The note raises the question: How might industry players work together as they contemplate the promises and challenges of UAVs?

Keywords

Public Entrepreneurship; Drones; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Product Design; Research and Development; Technological Innovation; Rights; Ethics; Strategy; Transportation Networks; Market Entry and Exit; Innovation and Management; European Union; Asia; United States

Citation

Weiss, Mitchell, Karim Lakhani, HT Kung, and Kerry Herman. "Flight: Now without Humans Aboard." Harvard Business School Technical Note 816-045, October 2015. (Revised September 2016.)
  • Educators

About The Author

Mitchell B. Weiss

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • October 2015 (Revised September 2016)
    • Faculty Research

    Flight: Now without Humans Aboard

    By: Mitchell Weiss, Karim Lakhani, HT Kung and Kerry Herman
Related Work
  • Flight: Now without Humans Aboard By: Mitchell Weiss, Karim Lakhani, HT Kung and Kerry Herman
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