GoPro despite being seen as more of an action camera manufacturer has always had close ties to drones. This is because due to the camera’s small and lightweight stature, many drone users have in the past used GoPro cameras and mounted them on drones for recording. This was at least until more drone makers started to include cameras of their own.
GoPro has since responded by releasing their own drone, the GoPro Karma which can actually be bought today. They have also recently launched an app called Passenger that will allow users to piggyback on nearby Karma drones and see what they are seeing, and to a certain extent allow them some control of the drone as well.
Before you freak out about random users hijacking your feed, note that this will require permission from the pilot who will also need to enable the Passenger feature from their controller. Also this creates a password-protected 5GHz network so obviously not anyone can simply stop by and see what you are seeing.
The app will let users control the drone’s camera, such as tilt, modes, resolution, framerates, and so on. Why would anyone do that? We suppose if all you wanted to do is take a drone tour but you aren’t too confident with your piloting skills, this could be an alternative (kind of like taking a helicopter tour). Alternatively it could be used by film crews where one person could pilot the drone, while the other mans the camera. The app is available for download via the iTunes App Store or Google Play.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, Drones, Gopro and Gopro Karma.