Industry Aerospace Website www.yuneec.com Number of employees 1,800 Subsidiaries GreenWing International | Key people Wenyan Jiang, Tian Yu Headquarters Jiangsu, China Founded 1999 | |
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Products Electric drones
Electric aircraft
Unmanned aerial vehicles | ||
Yuneec International is a Chinese aircraft manufacturer owned by Tian Yu and based in Jinxi, Kunshan, a town in Jiangsu. Yuneec markets its man-carrying aircraft in the United States through GreenWing International. Yuneec produced the Yuneec International E430, the first electric aircraft designed to be commercially produced, although only prototypes were ever built.
History
Yuneec was originally a manufacturer of radio-controlled model aircraft. The company built the first successful electric powered paraglider that was manufactured in series production, the EPac. Company owner Tian Yu then turned his attention to an electric ultralight trike, the Yuneec International ETrike. From there he designed a series of electric motors, the Yuneec Power Drive series, the all-composite E430 and the EViva motorglider. Collaboration with Flightstar Sportplanes of the US brought the Yuneec International e-Spyder design to completion, using an existing airframe with new electric power components.
In July 2010, Yuneec's E430 electric aircraft, won the Lindbergh Electric Airplane Prize at the World Electric Aircraft symposium. Yuneec's e-Spyder was the world's first certified electric aircraft, having received the DULV Type Certification in February 2013.
In August 2015, Intel Corporation invested $60 million in Yuneec. Intel and Yuneec agreed to work together on development of future projects. That same month, Yuneec launched Breeze, a drone capable of capturing UltraHD 4K photos and videos. Yuneec announced a retail partnership with Best Buy covering the Typhoon drone series and the Typhoon Wizard controller.
The Typhoon G featuring its GB203 3-axis gimbal designed for use with the GoPro camera was released in September 2015 to smooth and stabilize aerial footage. In October 2015, Yuneec released the Typhoon Wizard, an ultra-lightweight remote control compatible with the Typhoon drone series designed to be used with one hand. Yuneec partnered with Ocean Alliance, a whale conservation organization, in 2015 to create a safer way of collecting health data from whales. Rather than using biopsy darts, Ocean Alliance began using Yuneec drones outfitted with petri dishes to retrieve samples.
One of Yuneec's drones, the Typhoon Q500+, was seized by the police in June 2016 when its operator was flying it near the White House. The operator crashed a drone on The Ellipse near the White House in October 2015.
Yuneec released the Typhoon H in July 2016. The drone used the Intel RealSense 3D depth camera technology which tracks depth and human motion. The SkyView FPV heaset was released in August 2016. The headset connects to a drone's onboard camera allowing the user to control the drone from the first person view.