North Charleston police want drones answering 911 calls by July 1, 2027, and they have already picked the aircraft: the Skydio X10. The South Carolina department demonstrated the laptop-sized drone for city officials and the public this week, showing a 30 second response to a simulated traffic crash, as the Post and Courier reported.
The date attached to the plan matters as much as the hardware. The program flies only if city funding gets approved in December, which makes North Charleston the latest American city where the drone decision now sits with the people who hold the budget, not the people who fly the aircraft.
I have covered this exact sequence in city after city this year. The demo impresses, the council deliberates, and the public asks the surveillance question. North Charleston is following the script to the letter.
A 30 Second Demo Sold The Council On Drone Response
The X10 that police demonstrated reaches 45 mph (72 km/h), flies fully automated missions with AI obstacle avoidance, and hands manual control to an operator holding an Xbox controller when a human needs to take over. In the demonstration, the aircraft reached a staged traffic crash in 30 seconds…