Sony to offer commercial drone services

Now, Sony new Aerosense drone prototype taking flight and moving around was demonstrated by the company.

But drone use within construction and other industries for surveying risky or hard to reach areas is in its infancy.

The Tokyo-based enterprise has previously hinted towards its intentions of entering the drone-making business. The companies jointly launched Aerosense for this goal, of which Sony has marginal control.

The drone has been developed in collaboration with Aerosense Inc (who posted the video) and is capable of flying at 106 miles per hour with a battery life of two hours. The leap has been made and the first airplane-like drone, Aerosense, was unveiled on Monday.

“It’s possible that future growth in smartphones could be limited, so we have to engage and invest in new business opportunities”, said Hiroki Totoki, head of Sony Mobile Communications. In addition, the drone can carry a load of approximately 10 kilograms (22 pounds), according to Taniguchi.

The television and film industries have adopted large civil drones capable of carrying high-powered photography and video equipment to produce aerial and floating action shots within their controlled environments.

Aerosense is Sony’s joint venture with Japanese automation company ZMP, and is expecting revenues to hit JPY10 billion ($AU116 million) by 2020.

The AS-MCO1-P looks like a traditional quadcopter featuring a camera, GPS and navigation system.