The Low Sky

Drones, driverless cars and robots.

26 stories

A small plain white aircraft with a long high wing, rotors mounted on booms beneath both wings and a tall tail fin and horizontal tailplane stands on the polished concrete floor of a lit hangar, its tall doors open behind it onto an empty apron and a dusk sky fading from deep blue to orange. — ILLUSTRATION — A small white aircraft with rotors along its wings sits in an open hangar at dusk.

Air Taxis

Archer Brings Its First Air Taxi to Los Angeles

Archer lost $274.6 million in the third quarter and parked its first Midnight at Hawthorne; its new FAA certificate covers conventional takeoffs, its operating chief said.

Archer Aviation has delivered its first Midnight air taxi to Los Angeles, to a hangar at Hawthorne Airport, and holds a Federal Aviation Administration certificate that it says unlocks piloted operations there “in coming weeks.”

Nov. 102 min read

Five people in winter coats and knitted hats, seen from behind, wait beside a glass bus shelter on a frosty pavement on a wide street before sunrise, the streetlamps along it unlit, one person holding a faintly glowing phone, with tall concrete apartment blocks, a few windows lit, dark under a deep blue sky.

The Strike

Russia Sends 317 Drones; Kyiv Plans for Its Bridges

Ukraine’s Air Force counted 317 drones overnight, nearly twice the night before, 105 of them jets; Kyiv is planning buses for metro failures or trouble on its bridges.

Nov. 92 min read

A small dark-grey quadcopter drone hovers just above an open, box-shaped grey metal dock, its two lid panels folded up, on the flat gravel roof of a building, with a suburban town of houses, trees and lit streets spread out below under a deep blue dusk sky with a last band of orange on the horizon.

The Deal

Axon Puts $1.2 Billion Into Skydio

Axon will lift its stake in the drone maker to about 37 percent at a $5.2 billion pre-money valuation; its own shares fell 18.18 percent Friday.

Nov. 82 min read

Concrete apartment blocks of nine and twelve storeys stand dark against a deep-blue night sky with a bright moon and faint stars, only a handful of windows faintly lit, bare trees in front of them and a few dark parked cars on an unlit street below.

The Strike

Dnipro Goes Dark After a Second Night of Jets

Russia sent 164 drones, 112 of them jet-powered, Ukraine’s Air Force said; President Zelensky said more than 600,000 people in Dnipro and its region lost power.

Nov. 82 min read

Archer Brings Its First Air Taxi to Los Angeles

Russia Sends 317 Drones; Kyiv Plans for Its Bridges

Axon Puts $1.2 Billion Into Skydio

Dnipro Goes Dark After a Second Night of Jets

Earlier