YouTubers Giga Berlin / GF4Tesla (@Gf4Tesla) and Wu Wa (@bentv_sh) said on Thursday that Tesla had revoked their drone overflight permits for the company’s Gigafactories in Berlin and Shanghai.
Hello Folks,
I got a shocking message from @Tesla today, my drone overflight permit has been revoked.
The reason was " breach of trust " it it was mainly about my #Gigaleaks tweets from 2020/2021
Ok, no more Drone flight. 😔@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/WtH7asp42v— Gigafactory Berlin News (@Gf4Tesla) March 17, 2022
https://twitter.com/bentv_sh/status/1504699655744987136
Both YouTube channels are run by enthusiasts who fly drones over Tesla’s Gigafactories and share their footage with the rest of the community to provide updates on construction progress, give us a look at production, and even just showcase some generally interesting shots from inside the facilities. GF4Tesla covered Giga Berlin, while Giga Shanghai was Wu Wa’s domain.
GF4Tesla said that Tesla “revoked” their drone overflight permit for a “breach of trust.” Tesla did not relay any specifics regarding the offense, but the YouTuber had some guesses of their own.
Wu Wa, on the other hand, said Tesla has outright restricted drone flights at Giga Shanghai along with filming in the facility’s parking lot, “claiming there are trade secrets.”
No news of the sort has come out of Gigafactory Texas in the U.S., which is covered by YouTubers like Jeff Roberts (@peterdog15) and Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer) with regular drone flyovers of the Austin facility.
Both GF4Tesla and Wu Wa are attempting to get in touch with Tesla and company CEO Elon Musk for clarification on the issue and a possible resolution.
In the past, Musk has stated drone flights are allowed as long as they are at a fair distance and not right up to employees. It appears this policy has changed.
I’m fine with reasonable drone footage. Just needs to be at a fair distance & not coming right up to people. I think our security was a little overzealous in this case.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2020
It’s interesting that Giga Berlin and Giga Shanghai both did away with drone flyovers of the plants on the same day. Could Tesla be cooking something at these sites that it doesn’t want the world to see just yet?
