Brazilian aerospace company Embraer has drunk the Kool Aid on drone technology.

The company has announced its arrival on the drone technology stage through the purchase of a minority stake in XMobots, a São Paulo drone company regarded as one of the largest in the business in Latin America, and the fourteenth largest in the world, according to respected research company, Drone Industry Insights.

Based in Sao Carlos in Sao Paulo, XMobots specialises in the development and manufacture of high-performance vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones and related technologies such as multispectral sensors, gyro stabilised optronic sensors, data analysis software based on artificial intelligence, drone service provider platform, among others.

With about 200 employees, including more than 60 engineers in research and development, the company’s drones and drone services are developed for industries and markets such as agriculture, geotechnologies, defence and security, as well as the logistics and urban mobility sector.

Embraer, on the other hand, has been building planes since 1969. Besides manufacturing crewed aircraft for defence, security and agricultural aviation, Embraer makes commercial passenger planes which, according to the manufacturer, fly 145million passengers every year worldwide.

It also has an innovation incubation division, Embraer-X, which will be more involved in the drone stake at XMobots.

“Our investment strategy and venture capital operations have a strong emphasis on innovation and partnerships, which are pillars of our growth plan for years to come,” said Daniel Moczydlower, Embraer’s Head of Innovation and President and CEO of Embraer-X.

“Initiatives like this are fundamental to leverage ecosystems, value knowledge and recognize entrepreneurs who generate businesses with exponential growth potential and high value creation for society.”

The company added that its investment in drone technology was aimed at claiming a stake on the market for medium and large autonomous drones, and help explore new market niches and expand the network of collaboration in research of new technologies.

“This engagement results in innovations such as drone service provider platforms, hybrid propulsion and power technologies, artificial image analysis intelligence, and especially in aeronautical certifications,” said Giovani Amianti, founder and CEO of XMobots.

“With this investment, we will be able to move together in the development of technologies that will consolidate autonomous aerial robots and accelerate solutions for the geotechnologies, agriculture, environmental, inspection, defence and public security, logistics and urban mobility markets that are points of convergence between XMobots and Embraer.”