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Everything you wanted to know about Drone Insurance for Tech Companies

The drone industry isn’t one-size-fits-all. A company manufacturing drone hardware faces different risks than one providing drone-based services or software. It’s important to align your insurance program with your specific business model. Here are several common types of drone companies and the key coverages each should consider.

Even if your drones never crash, your company can still face serious claims. Technology Errors & Omissions (Tech E&O) insurance – also known as professional liability – protects your drone business when a client alleges financial loss due to a mistake in your technology or services. In essence, it covers the “invisible” damages: scenarios where nothing blew up or caught fire, yet a software bug, design flaw, or professional oversight on your part cost the client money.

Drone technology companies face unique and complex risks that go far beyond the scope of a standard business policy. Whether you manufacture drones and docking stations, develop unmanned systems and software, or provide drone-based services (inspection, surveillance, delivery, etc.), you need Drone & UAS Insurance tailored to your operations. Traditional insurance often falls short – excluding aviation-related incidents and failing to cover the high stakes of drone projects. That’s why a specialized approach is essential to protect your business as it scales.

Innovative drone startups and scale-ups often operate in uncharted territories – not just in technology and airspace, but also in business risk. Investors, board members, and founders are all pushing boundaries. Directors & Officers (D&O) insurance is there to protect the personal assets of your leadership team if things go wrong and they are held personally accountable. In a drone company, this could range from investor lawsuits over a failed project to regulatory investigations after an accident.

Drone companies operate at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds, which means cyber risks can have very real consequences. Cyber liability insurance is a critical component of a drone firm’s risk management. It addresses scenarios that traditional insurance won’t touch: data breaches, hackers targeting your drones or control systems, ransomware attacks on your cloud infrastructure, and more.

Standard general liability insurance isn’t enough when it comes to drones. Because drones are legally considered aircraft, incidents involving them require specialized aviation coverage. Drone aviation insurance provides protection if your drone operations cause bodily injury or property damage to third parties – a risk that traditional policies almost always exclude. Simply put: if a drone crashes and injures someone or damages property, you want an aviation insurer backing you up, not a surprised general insurer trying to deny the claim under an “aircraft” exclusion.