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DJI drones helped fight Notre Dame fire, not France’s Parrot
Parrot is the second largest drone company in the world… a very distant second
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
France has a home-grown, high-end drone company. But while fighting the fire that broke out at Notre Dame Cathedral on April 15, firefighters turned to drones from the Chinese company DJI.
The story of drone pioneer DJI
When it came time to collect critical aerial information on the fire raging through the French landmark, the Paris Fire Brigade reportedly relied on DJI’s Mavic Pro and Matrice M210. The latter is capable of carrying the company's Zenmuse XT2 with a FLIR Tau 2 thermal sensor.
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In this case, thermal cameras might not have been used. However, if firefighters wanted to support France’s own Parrot to save one of the country's most iconic landmarks by using thermal imaging, they wouldn't have had the option.
Parrot only recently announced its new ANAFI Thermal drone, which the company said wouldn't be available until May. The $1,900 drone is compact and looks more comparable to the consumer-friendly Mavic (US$1,500) than the commercial Matrice drone designed to carry heavier payloads.
Parrot is the world’s second largest drone company, albeit a very distant second. The company had 8.1% of the smart commercial drone market in 2015, far behind DJI’s 57.2%.
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By decking out the ANAFI drone with a FLIR thermal camera, Parrot is wading slowly into the commercial drone space. Even so, the company still has nothing that compares to DJI’s higher-end offerings.
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