[Courtesy of DJI ]
Chinese drone giant DJI has opened the world's first indoor drone arena in South Korea following the establishment of its flagship retail store, expanding its presence in one of the world's most wired countries.
The 1,395-square-meter arena in Yongin, 45 kilometers (27 miles) south of Seoul, allows a dozen drone racers to compete safely for three hours. It can be used for a new pilot experience (NPE) program and drone-related workshops.
"DJI opened the drone arena for the first time in South Korea," Moon Tae-hyun, who heads DJI's operation in South Korea, said, adding the market here has a great potential to grow.
South Korea was selected as a test bed for how consumers will react to this kind of a new game, he said. "The DJI arena is a place in which everybody can fly various drones conveniently and safely."
The arena has a maintenance and repair room and offers mobile hurdles for drone racing, an electronic scoreboard and safety facilities that would allow a dozen people to fly drones for three years in midweek. At the weekend, the arena will run for nine hours to house more people.
It has an educational program and a showroom for DJI products including its latest consumer model, the Phantom 4.
DJI, headquartered in Shenzhen, produces commercial and recreational unmanned aerial vehicles for aerial photography and videography. It now controls about 70 percent of the world's two billion US dollar consumer drone market, having sold around 700,000 of its ubiquitous white quad-rotor drones last year.
In March, DJI opened a five-storey drone store near Hoik University in western Seoul. It's DJI's first outlet overseas.
The drone market is expected to rise from more than $5 billion in 2014 to more than $12 billion in 2023. South Korea has eased restrictions to create a new market for pilotless air vehicles.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
