Business
Can an Open-Source Ecosystem Provide Enhanced Drone Solutions? Romeo Durscher is Vice President of Public Safety at Auterion, the premier end-to-end operating systems for commercial drones, based on open-standards, flexibility and choices. In 2011, co-founder Lorenz Meier created PX4, the world’s most widely used open-source flight controller for drones and other unmanned vehicles. Today, it is the core of Auterion’s operating systems. In September 2020, a Forbes.com article called Auterion the company that could transform the U.S. Drone Industry. Born and raised in Switzerland, Romeo came to Auterion after 6 years at DJI, where he built the public safety vertical and has become one of the most trusted global leaders and evangelists in small Unmanned Aircraft Systems integration and deployments. Prior to joining the drone industry, he spent 13 years at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. At Auterion, Romeo advises first responders and humanitarian organizations on proper drone use and data integration, collaborating with R&D teams on hardware and software solutions, and expanding the drone ecosystem to enhance fully integrated end-to-end solutions and workflows. In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Romeo talks about Auterion’s products and services, his transition to a fully-open source ecosystem and how that ecosystem enables and supports enhancedcustomer solutions.