Washington, United States – Autel Robotics is thrilled to announce that Jon McBride, a 21-year veteran of the drone industry, has become the company’s new Vice President of Technology and Training. This job has global responsibility – a step up from his former senior training role at Autel where he was hugely influential. Jon is widely known in the drone and UAV community for his honesty, his understanding of the products, and his constant focus on the customer.
Before he moved into the UAV industry – even before the consumer industry itself was truly born – McBride had a long-standing passion for remote control aircraft, beginning 35 years ago. He owned and operated a successful RC hobby shop in Utah, drawing fans of the hobby from all around.
As drones grew in popularity over twenty years ago, McBride became a key figure in the development and implementation of emerging drone technologies. In this new era, drones were no longer just for hobbyists, but also for public safety, and specific industry applications, with a focus on making them affordable for all – and Jon was at the heart of it.
A key step in Jon’s career was co-founding Rocky Mountain Unmanned Systems (RMUS), where he worked with enterprise drones, developing much-needed training in a market clamoring for more education on this burgeoning new technology.
Last year, Jon joined the Autel Team as the Director of Training. He’s spent the majority of that time traveling around the country training customers and dealers on how to get the most out of their Autel products, particularly the Dragonfish eVTOL series. Based on his experience, Jon could sometimes give critical feedback to help the engineering team improve the Dragonfish range.
“One of my reasons for joining Autel Robotics was that I had learned that manufacturers don’t always have clear directions or training for their products – and this is an issue throughout the industry,” he said. “My passion is to try to educate people and develop manufacturer-certified training.”
In the spirit of setting up formalized training, he has worked with the Autel team to build the Autel Robotics Training Center program. ARTC was built from the ground up to instruct users in the operation, maintenance, and safe use of their Autel drones.
“We’re developing the content, aligning with FAA standards so we can be the first drone manufacturer to require a certificate in order to operate the Dragonfish,” said Mariah May, an Autel team member who worked directly with McBride to build the training program. “We’ve had some good feedback already that [customers] felt very prepared going into instructor training.”
McBride’s new position expands his formal role from training to include even more influence on new product and technology development, based on customers’ needs and feedback.
In his words, “My new role will include understanding Autel technology, educating and training our dealers and customer base, working directly with engineers and R&D to improve our products, and bringing brand reliability to the masses.”
McBride’s career has already included business ownership, military leadership, and technological development. Now it enters an exciting new phase. Both McBride and Autel are thrilled to have him on the leadership team.
“I’m excited to be working together with Autel as we travel towards a future as the best industrial drone manufacturer on the planet,” Jon said.
Autel Robotics is a team of industry professionals with a genuine passion for technology and years of engineering experience. Since its founding in 2014, Autel has always striven for customer-driven innovation and is continually working to raise the industry standard for drones. The company’s headquarters is in Shenzhen, the heart of China’s tech industry; it also has R&D bases around the world including Seattle, Munich, and Silicon Valley. For more information, visit www.autelrobotics.com, or follow Autel Robotics on Facebook @autelrobotics, and Instagram @autelbotocis, or subscribe to the Autel Robotics YouTube Channel.
