Fall 2026
Posted on 8/5/2026
Develops autonomous drones for data capture
$47 - $58/hr
San Mateo, CA, USA
In Person
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Skydio designs and manufactures autonomous drones, such as the Skydio X10, for defense and industrial inspection. These drones use onboard AI and high-resolution thermal cameras to fly themselves through complex or indoor environments while capturing data without the need for constant manual piloting. Unlike competitors that rely heavily on human operators, Skydio focuses on full autonomy and provides a browser-based "Remote Flight Deck" alongside regulatory support for advanced flight permissions. The company's goal is to automate high-quality data collection in difficult spaces to make inspections safer and more efficient for organizations.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
Series F
Total Funding
$851M
Headquarters
San Mateo, California
Founded
2014
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Child Care & Parental Leave - Family Medical Leave, Flexible Work Schedule, Generous Parental Leave
Health & Wellness Benefits - Dental Benefits, Disability Insurance, Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Health Insurance Benefits, Life Insurance, Onsite Gym, Vision Benefits, Wellness Programs, Mental Health Benefits
Home Office Stipend for Remote Employees
401(K)
Generous PTO, Paid Holidays, Paid Sick Days
Skydio and CentralSquare wire DFR into police dispatch. DroneXL may earn a commission when you buy through links on its site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Skydio's DFR Command will now live natively inside CentralSquare's dispatch software, putting drone launches one click away from the 911 call itself. Photo credit: Skydio Skydio and CentralSquare announced a partnership on August 3 that builds Drone as First Responder operations natively into CentralSquare's computer-aided dispatch software, the system many American police, fire, and EMS agencies already stare at every time a 911 call drops. I have tracked Skydio's DFR integration push since it crossed 10 million calls for service in February, and this deal moves the drone launch button into the one screen every dispatcher already owns. Video Muted The partnership makes the drone a native part of the 911 workflow. The word doing the heavy lifting in this announcement is native. Skydio's DFR Command already talked to CentralSquare systems, but the connection ran through Fusus, a third-party bridge. The new partnership builds the drone workflow directly into CentralSquare's CAD environment instead of bolting it on from outside. In practice, the integrated setup works like this: calls for service populate a live map inside DFR Command as dispatch enters them, and a remote pilot launches an aircraft to the incident with one click on that map. No re-typing addresses, no switching between systems, no radio relay between the dispatcher and the drone team. Calls for service populate the DFR Command map as dispatch enters them, and a pilot launches with one click. Photo credit: Skydio Seconds are the whole product here. Captain Abrem Ayana of the Brookhaven Police Department, an early DFR Command adopter, put a number on it in Skydio's February announcement: "Our response time is under sixty seconds." That clock only runs that fast when the drone system reads the call the moment dispatch does. CentralSquare is the pipe most agencies already drink from. CentralSquare matters because of where it already sits. The company is one of the dominant CAD and records-management vendors in United States public safety, and its dispatch software runs daily operations for agencies regardless of which drone brand they fly: Skydio fleets, BRINC fleets, or the DJI aircraft many departments still trust. CentralSquare's CAD environment is the chokepoint of every emergency response at the agencies that run it. Photo credit: CentralSquare That neutrality is exactly what makes this partnership sharp for Skydio. The CAD screen is the chokepoint of every emergency response, and Skydio just moved into it natively while its competitors connect from the outside or not at all. The move extends a strategy Skydio has run all year. When DFR Command crossed 10 million calls for service in February, the company counted more than 25 integrated public safety systems: a dozen CAD providers including CentralSquare, Motorola PremierOne, and Tyler Technologies, plus NG911 platforms, gunshot detection, license plate readers, and body camera triggers. Skydio says more than 3,800 agencies and organizations use its aircraft across public safety, military, and infrastructure work. The field results keep feeding the pitch. Spokane's four X10s flew roughly 400 flights in three weeks during that city's DFR pilot, the vast majority tied to live police calls. Skydio pitches a 20-second launch from dock to en route - a number that only counts from the moment the pilot sees the call. Photo credit: Skydio Integration also chips away at the last big DFR bottleneck that software can touch. Regulatory approvals for flying beyond visual line of sight still take agencies months of FAA paperwork, and nothing in this deal changes that. What the CAD tie-in removes is the operational drag after the waiver arrives: the minutes a program loses between the call hitting dispatch and a pilot even learning the call exists. Departments that cleared the regulatory hurdle only to watch their drones sit on the roof during real calls are exactly who this partnership is built for. Faster launches are the promise, lock-in is the strategy. Both halves of this deal deserve a clear-eyed look. For agencies, the benefits are real and immediate: faster drone launches, fewer transcription errors between systems, and DFR programs that behave like part of dispatch instead of a side project run from a separate laptop. For Skydio, the prize is structural. Every workflow built natively into the software agencies already renew year after year makes the eventual hardware decision lean one direction before the procurement process even starts. A department shopping for its first DFR program next year will find the drone button already sitting inside its dispatch console, and it will not be labeled BRINC. DroneXL's take. Two giants just connected their plumbing, and the water only flows one way. CentralSquare brings the install base and decades of dispatch experience. Skydio brings the most integrated DFR stack in the market. For the agencies caught in the middle, response times should drop and DFR programs should get easier to justify, and I count that as a genuine win for the people waiting on the other end of a 911 call. But I keep my eye on what this does to the market, because the DFR race stopped being about aircraft a while ago. Skydio's X10 is a fine drone that DJI matches or beats on hardware for less money, a comparison I make in these pages regularly. Skydio's answer has never been to win the spec sheet. It has been to win the software layer: the CAD integrations, the NG911 feeds, the body camera triggers, and now native residence inside the dispatch vendor many agencies already pay. That is the same playbook Axon ran with body cameras and evidence management, and it ended with one company owning American police technology procurement almost outright. Whether Skydio converts the dispatch screen into that same kind of dominance, hardware and software together, is still an open question, not a foregone conclusion. DJI still owns the price-performance argument, BRINC keeps winning departments, and federal buy-American pressure cuts both ways politically. What I can say today: the company that made the launch button native to the 911 workflow just made every competitor's sales call one screen harder. Watch which CAD vendor announces the next drone partnership, because after this one, staying unintegrated stopped being an option. DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Rafael Suárez. Staff Writer Rafael Suárez is a drone journalist and content creator with more than 20 years behind the lens. He began in film photography in 1998, moved to digital in 2005, and has been flying and filming with drones since 2016. As a commercial videographer he has produced work for premium brands including BMW, Porsche, and MINI, and his documentary work champions a #flysafe mentality across the industry. Based in Quito, Ecuador, he covers drone news, hardware, and the policy and business shaping the industry for DroneXL, and shares reviews and cinematic flight on his YouTube channel. A dad and a lifelong aviation nerd, he's happiest when something is in the air.
CentralSquare Technologies has partnered with Skydio to integrate drone operations into public safety computer-aided dispatch (CAD) workflows. The integration, now available, automatically populates CAD incidents into Skydio's DFR Command system, allowing pilots to review and initiate drone responses immediately. Live video and telemetry from Skydio drones are embedded within CAD incidents, enabling officers to view real-time aerial intelligence whilst flight activity is automatically documented. The integration eliminates the need for separate systems or manual coordination that traditional drone deployments require. CentralSquare provides public sector software to over 8,000 agencies across North America. Skydio is the largest US drone manufacturer and specialises in autonomous flying robots for emergency response operations.
EVERYWHERE Communications has integrated with autonomous drone company Skydio to enable automatic drone dispatch when workers trigger SOS alerts. When an SOS is activated, the EVERYWHERE Platform transmits the event to Skydio, which dispatches a drone to the incident location whilst simultaneously notifying supervisors and emergency services. The capability is being developed through a lone worker safety programme. The integration can also support future triggers including geofence violations and missed check-ins. EVERYWHERE president Jake Bailey said the drone response provides organisations with additional situational awareness during emergencies. Both companies plan to expand the integration into utilities and defence sectors, where remote operational environments and high safety requirements align with the technology's capabilities.
EVERYWHERE integrates with Skydio to enable autonomous drone response for lone workers. PR Newswire SOS events now autonomously dispatch drones to incident locations - extending emergency response capabilities beyond the reach of traditional infrastructure ANNAPOLIS, Md., July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - EVERYWHERE Communications today announced an integration with Skydio, the leading autonomous drone company, that enables SOS events to automatically dispatch drones to incident locations in real time. The integration connects the EVERYWHERE Platform and Skydio's autonomous drone operations. When a worker activates an SOS, the event is transmitted, received by EVERYWHERE, and passed to Skydio - which dispatches a drone to the precise incident location. Simultaneously, supervisors, dispatch centers, field personnel, and emergency services are notified through existing EVERYWHERE workflows. The capability is currently being developed and validated through a real-world lone worker safety program, with program leadership expressing strong interest in full operational deployment. "Adding autonomous drone response to SOS events gives organizations a critical additional layer of situational awareness when it matters most," said Jake Bailey, President at EVERYWHERE. The drone functions as a response asset in addition to existing emergency notification workflows. Additionally, the same framework can support a range of future triggers - including geofence violations, missed check-ins, and custom operational events - each capable of initiating different drone behaviors or missions. EVERYWHERE and Skydio are aligned on expanding the integration into utilities and defense sectors, where lone worker challenges, remote operational environments, and high safety requirements make the capability particularly well-suited. About EVERYWHERE Led by a team of pioneers that helped create the category of two-way handheld satellite communications, EVERYWHERE Communications delivers a purpose-built software platform that ensures enterprise and government teams remain Always Connected(R) in any environment. By integrating satellite and wireless networks, the EVERYWHERE Platform(TM) provides secure, resilient connectivity alongside tools for messaging, location monitoring, dynamic data visualization, and geospatial intelligence. For more information, visit everywherecomms.com or contact [email protected]. About Skydio Skydio, the largest U.S. drone manufacturer and world leader in flying robots, leverages breakthrough artificial intelligence to create drones that are easier to operate, safer to fly, and more capable in complex environments. Skydio systems are trusted by more than 3,800 agencies and organizations across the U.S. and allied militaries, public safety, and critical infrastructure sectors. Skydio designs, assembles, and supports its products in the U.S. from its headquarters in San Mateo, California. For more information, follow Skydio on LinkedIn or visit skydio.com.
SFPD drone footage leak exposes urban surveillance reality. San Francisco police drone videos from Skydio leaked online, revealing scope of aerial surveillance PUBLISHED: Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:40 AM UTC | UPDATED: Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 1:38 AM UTC Hours of police drone footage from San Francisco's streets just spilled onto the internet, and it's revealing just how extensively law enforcement monitors the city from above. The leaked videos, captured by drones from California-based Skydio, expose the San Francisco Police Department's aerial surveillance operations and raise urgent questions about data security in an era where cameras are everywhere. It's a stark reminder that the tools meant to keep cities safe can become privacy nightmares when they're not properly secured. The San Francisco Police Department just had its eye-in-the-sky operations exposed in the most public way possible. Hours of drone surveillance footage captured over the city's streets, parks, and neighborhoods leaked online, giving civilians an unprecedented look at how law enforcement watches from above. The videos come from drones manufactured by Skydio, the California-based company that's become the go-to provider for US law enforcement after agencies moved away from Chinese-made DJI drones over security concerns. The irony isn't lost on privacy advocates - the supposedly more secure domestic alternative just exposed how broadly police are watching San Francisco residents. What's in the footage paints a revealing picture. The leaked videos show aerial perspectives of street scenes, crowd monitoring, and surveillance operations that most residents had no idea were happening above them. It's the kind of comprehensive oversight that would've required helicopters and massive budgets just a decade ago, now conducted routinely with $10,000 drones. Skydio has been riding high on the wave of government contracts, positioning itself as the American answer to Chinese drone dominance. The company's autonomous flight technology and "Made in USA" pitch helped it secure deals with over 400 public safety agencies nationwide. But this leak demonstrates that domestic manufacturing doesn't automatically solve the surveillance state's data security problems. The San Francisco Police Department hasn't detailed how the footage escaped their systems, but the breach reveals a fundamental tension in modern policing. Departments are rapidly adopting powerful surveillance tools without the cybersecurity infrastructure to protect the sensitive data they collect. Every hour of aerial footage represents hundreds of faces, license plates, and private moments that citizens didn't consent to sharing. Privacy advocates have been warning about this exact scenario for years. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and ACLU have pushed for strict limitations on police drone use, arguing that the technology enables mass surveillance without meaningful oversight. When San Francisco authorized expanded police drone use in 2023, critics predicted the scope would expand faster than privacy protections. This leak proves they were right. The competitive landscape around police drones has shifted dramatically since federal agencies began restricting Chinese-made equipment. Skydio emerged as the primary beneficiary, but competitors like Brinc and Teal Drones are also vying for public safety contracts. The industry's projected to hit $1.5 billion in law enforcement sales by 2028, according to market analysts. But rapid adoption creates vulnerabilities. Police departments are deploying sophisticated aerial surveillance platforms without equivalent investments in data governance, encryption, or access controls. The footage just sits on servers, protected by whatever IT security a municipal budget can afford. Sometimes that's robust. Often, as this leak suggests, it's not. The timing couldn't be worse for Skydio, which recently closed a $170 million funding round and is eyeing an eventual IPO. The company's valuation rests partly on trust - the belief that its systems are more secure than foreign alternatives. A major police department losing hours of surveillance footage doesn't exactly reinforce that narrative. What happens next matters tremendously. If San Francisco responds by simply tightening access controls without addressing the broader question of how much aerial surveillance is appropriate, they'll miss the point entirely. The leak didn't create the privacy problem - it just made visible what's been happening quietly for years. Cities across America are deploying drone fleets with minimal public debate about when, where, and why police should watch from above. The leaked footage also raises chain-of-custody questions that could affect criminal cases. Defense attorneys are already asking whether evidence collected via drone might be compromised if the department can't secure its surveillance data. That's a legal headache SFPD prosecutors definitely didn't need. This leak is a watershed moment for urban surveillance. It exposes not just a security failure by one police department, but the broader reality that American cities are being watched from above with minimal oversight or public awareness. As Skydio and its competitors sell thousands more drones to police departments nationwide, the question isn't whether this technology will proliferate - it's whether we'll build meaningful privacy protections before everyone's daily movements become permanent police records. San Francisco just showed us what happens when surveillance scales faster than safeguards. Don't expect this to be the last leak. More Topics: