Chinese drone maker to open a UAV area in S. Korea

Chinese drone maker to open a UAV area in S. Korea. August. 02, 2016 06:45. by 김재희기자 jetti@donga.com.

Chinese-based drone manufacturer DJI, the world’s largest maker of unmanned aerial vehicles, has chosen South Korea as the venue for its first indoor arena dedicated to UAVs.

According to DJI Korea on Monday, it will open a DJI Arena in the city of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. While DJI takes up 70 percent of the entire civil UAV market (in terms of revenues), it has yet to build a drone arena. The 1,395-square-meter arena will be equipped with mobile racing tracks with lightings and obstacles in the form of loops for UAVs to pass through. Large-sized LCD TVs will be installed so that the audience can share the first-person view experiences, which otherwise only the drone pilots may get. Experience programs and workshops will be provided as well for novice learners.

“The demographic of drone users in Korea is much more diverse than it is in China. DJI China decided to open the first arena in Korea as it viewed that Korea was a more proper venue to collect the necessary data to expand the scope of users,” said an official from DJI Korea. Drone industry experts are expecting that DJI will build more arenas in China and the U.S. based on the experiences gathered in South Korea.