Also: Aurora Flight Sciences Award, Kratos Contract, MacDill AFB, Property Drone Consortium

GoPro announced in its most recent earnings report that it is exiting the camera drone market after it sells off its existing drone inventory. The company is reportedly laying off between 200 and 300 people, mostly from the Karma segment of the business.

The layoffs were announced in a letter from GoPro executives to employees affected by the move, which was called part of a "larger restructuring to better align our resources with business requirements." In the earnings report, GoPro said that "Although Karma reached the #2 market position in its price band in 2017, the product faces margin challenges in an extremely competitive aerial market.... GoPro will continue to provide service and support to Karma customers." AeroVironment has formed a joint venture to develop solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance, or HALE, UAS for commercial operations. This category of UAS is also referred to as high-altitude pseudo-satellites, or HAPS. The joint venture will fund the development program up to a net maximum value of $65,011,481. This is THE week... the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 starts today in Las Vegas, Nevada. Aptiv and Lyft will partner to demonstrate a “first-of-its-kind fully automated point-to-point ride-hailing experience” known as the Aptiv-Lyft CES 2018 Automated Experience. Building off of previous CES drives performed by Aptiv, including a 6.3-mile driving loop of city streets and highways in 2017, the Aptiv-Lyft CES 2018 Automated Experience will demonstrate Aptiv's automated system and Lyft's user platform to offer rides to more than 20 destinations throughout Las Vegas. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne-Unmanned!!!

Airborne-Unmanned 01.09.18 is chock full of info in this Weekly News Episode, Tuesday, January 9th, 2018... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Hosts Brianne Cross, Christopher Odom, and Laura Hutson, and is supported by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, and Aero-Journalist Tom Patton, this episode covers:

• GoPro Kills Karma, Announces Layoffs 
• AeroVironment Announces Joint Venture And Solar HALE UAS Development Program
• Aptiv And Lyft To Provide Rides In Self-driving Vehicles During CES 2018
• USAF Awards Contract To Aurora Flight Sciences
• Kratos Receives Single Award $93 Million Contract
• MacDill AFB Mulls Change On Recreational Drone Ban
• Property Drone Consortium To Participate In 2018 Public Safety UAS Conference

Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again next week for the next edition of "Airborne-Unmanned" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, next week!

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