Teal Drones Secures Exclusive License to Use Autonomous Drone Software and Technology from Autonodyne
Red Cat Holdings, Inc. announces a licensing agreement with Autonodyne, LLC. that will enable Red Cat subsidiary Teal Drones, Inc. to ship its drone for government and military segments – the Golden Eagle – with exclusive autonomous capabilities in late 2022.
Combining Teal’s drones and Autonodyne technology positions Red Cat as a leader in multi-vehicle and autonomous drone operation. Teal’s Golden Eagle drone with Autonodyne software has already successfully demonstrated drone “swarms” and provides features like “unlimited surveillance” that seamlessly rotates multiple drones over a single point of interest for 24/7 coverage.
Under the terms of the license, Teal has secured the exclusive right to Autonodyne’s software suite for “autonomy and exchange of control among humans and machines to perform tasks involving crewed and/or uncrewed vehicles.” Autonodyne has agreed to exclusively provide its software to Teal’s current and prospective customers for single vehicles, multi-vehicles, and linked multi-vehicles, whether existing or planned in the future and includes Autonodyne’s patents and unpatented technology.
Red Cat CEO Jeff Thompson said, “Teal’s products have repeatedly proven in testing that they can handle difficult mission-specific assignments with ease and offer autonomous capabilities that are superior to other drones. Autonodyne is the first of multiple development partners we plan to integrate and test with for prospective applications in the government and military segments served by our Teal division. Under the terms of the agreement, Autonodyne software will only be made available to Teal, effectively jumping Teal ahead of other drone companies seeking to provide multi-vehicle control or capabilities like unlimited surveillance. Competitors will have to develop their software or secure licenses from others with inferior test performance.
“Adding Autonodyne software to the Golden Eagle is as significant to our Company’s financial success as it is to our customer’s mission success. At 42%, the gross margin on the Golden Eagle is certainly good, but adding Autonodyne software to the Golden Eagle increases our gross margin to over 60%,” concluded Thompson.
George Matus, the founder of Teal, said, “Red Cat has immediate potential to be a leader in this industry’s government and military segments. Golden Eagle was selected as one of only a handful of drones certified for U.S. Government procurement and it is continuously being improved, with a new version to be announced soon. Our hardware-enabled software approach allows us to meet or exceed the security and performance requirements for a military operation, border control, public safety, and more. As shown by recent international events, small drones irrefutably make a major difference in front-line outcomes. With fleet-level operation at just a few thousand dollars per mission versus millions for larger scale equipment, the attraction of our products is clear.”