CLM Magazine: Owning the Drone – How a Patent Plays Out in the Field
This year, EagleView received a patent for an automated drone flight path around a structure. EagleView President Rishi Daga sat down with CLM Magazine to explain how this process works and discuss what Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma taught EagleView about drone image capture.
You say the flight plan doesn’t require a pilot. Can you explain what that means? Is there still an operator nearby?
Absolutely, there is a pilot involved and, in fact, the current regulations for flying commercial drones require that there be a licensed pilot on-site and that the drone remains in the sight of the pilot at all times. The patent says that the pilot does not need to calculate the flight path, just monitor the drone while it’s in flight. The pilot can override the flight path at any given time if he feels something could become a problem, such as a bird. We work with an extensive network of drone operators throughout the country.
Walk us through the process step by step and what the report looks like when it lands on a claims professional’s desk.
The report blends drone captured imagery and (through machine learning) indicators of where potential damage exists for claims professionals to consider in their inspections…
