The 2024 China Drone Racing League Suzhou Station took place from October 18 to 21, gathering 91 teams from across the country. Nearly a thousand athletes, coaches, and event staff came together to support the development of the low-altitude economy.
The China Drone Racing League is the world’s first national drone racing league, and this Suzhou event marks the fifth stop of the 2024 season. The competition features multi-rotor drone racing across three categories: Open, Youth, and Women’s divisions. Participants will face intense challenges through qualifying rounds, elimination heats, and finals to determine the champions in each category.
The race was held on a 500-meter track by Lake Huanying, where contestants used ground radio remote control devices to navigate their multi-rotor drones through a series of obstacles at high speeds, all from a first-person perspective.
“Drone racing is a sophisticated sport that combines optics, mechanics, electronics, communication, and transmission technologies,” said a representative from the Suzhou Development and Reform Commission. “This event will help Suzhou cultivate a new industry model of ‘low-altitude + culture, sports, and tourism,’ further advancing the city’s low-altitude economy from a state of readiness to soaring success.”
In recent years, Suzhou has seized opportunities in the low-altitude economy, focusing on developing an intelligent manufacturing cluster centered on medium to large drones, as well as a service ecosystem that includes flight support, education and training, aviation maintenance, and aviation finance. The city is actively expanding into five key application areas: public low-altitude services, urban air transportation, smart logistics in the low-altitude space, unique low-altitude consumer experiences, and testing and certification of low-altitude aircraft, aiming to become a national demonstration zone for the low-altitude economy.
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