“One of the most shocking things I heard during my time at DJI came not from a drone technician or technologist, but from a civil engineer,” said Arnaud Thiercelin. “With a straight face, they told me, ‘We’ve built so much infrastructure, and we have so few people to monitor it. Our only plan is to let it crumble and build it again.’”
That statement, shared by civil engineers, shocked Arnaud and sparked a deeper conversation in a recent episode of The Vertical Space, ‘Cutting through the gimmicks and winning the drone marathon’. Arnaud, now Chief Product Officer at Orqa and former Head of DJI R&D and VP of Engineering at Auterion, calls out the urgent need for smarter infrastructure monitoring and real-world drone applications.
He shares bold views on what’s broken and what’s next, covering:
This is a must-listen for anyone interested in drones, robotics, and the future of critical infrastructure. Arnaud challenges the status quo, urging listeners to think beyond gimmicks and focus on delivering real value to end users. From FPV drones neutralizing M1 Abrams tanks to the West’s struggle to produce a viable DJI competitor, he doesn’t shy away from controversy. He calls out the industry's missteps and offers sharp insights into what it will take to reclaim leadership in drone and robotics innovation.
This episode explores the broader implications of mobile robotics across commercial markets. Arnaud discusses the critical gaps in the Western drone supply chain, the challenges of building a defensible company, and the next major competitive battleground in drone technology. He also shares his vision for integrating drones into enterprise ecosystems and the rapid expansion of drone use cases.
This mindset isn’t hypothetical. It’s playing out in real time! From wildfires in California to floods in Asia, and catastrophic dam failures like the one in Brazil, we’re seeing the consequences of under-monitoring. A hairline crack in a concrete dam, undetected because no one was inspecting it, led to a disaster that cost lives and billions in damages.
Arnoud had spoken about that exact risk at a conference in Guangzhou just weeks before the Brazil dam burst. These aren’t what-ifs. They are happening.
The issue isn’t a lack of concern. It’s capacity. There simply aren’t enough skilled people to inspect every utility pole, transmission line, pipeline, and dam.
Most utility companies in places like the western United States either:With climate-driven events becoming more frequent and severe such as wildfires, floods, and heatwaves, insurers are demanding better visibility and risk mitigation. They are raising premiums or walking away unless utilities can demonstrate continuous asset awareness.
But no utility can afford to hire tens of thousands of inspectors. Even if they could, the process would be too slow, expensive, and inconsistent to match the urgency of the risks.
This is where award winning Unleash live can make a difference. We don’t just help you see your infrastructure. We help you understand it in real time!
Unleash live provides a complete end-to-end solution for inspections and emergency response.
Before
• Plan missions using digital twins and asset maps
• Automate drone flights and inspection routes
During
• Live stream video from drones, CCTV, or mobile units
• Real-time AI detection of faults, smoke, flooding, or structural shifts
• Stream directly to control rooms, emergency command centers, or mobile teams
After
• Post-event analysis, annotations, and reporting
• Automatically flag assets for repair or re-inspection
• Share insights across agencies or departments instantly
Whether you're managing wildfire risks, assessing damage after a cyclone, or inspecting transmission lines following extreme weather, Unleash live ensures you're never flying blind.
You can read more about how utilities are already benefiting from this approach in our blog, Helping Utilities Respond Faster and Safer in Emergencies and our recent Video Case Study with Endeavour Energy on pre-inspections prior to bushfire season.
This is not just about technology. It is about resilience. Countries with declining birth rates, ageing infrastructure, and increasing frequency of natural disasters, need a scalable and intelligent way to maintain visibility across their networks.
Unleash live provides the tools to monitor proactively rather than reactively. Letting it crumble is not a strategy. It is a failure of planning. And it is one we can no longer afford.
Our recent NSW Government Grant for Rapid Asset Assessment highlights how we're expanding this capability further, accelerating emergency assessments for critical infrastructure across Australia.
Podcast Source: The Vertical Space: #87 Arnaud Thiercelin, Hosted by Luka Tomljenovic, James Barry and Peter Shannon