Facebook to acquire UAV Developer Titan Aerospace
by TechCrunch
Facebook is looking to enter the game of drones.
The social media giant is reportedly in talks to purchase Titan Aerospace, a company that makes solar-powered, near-orbital drones, which can fly for about five years nonstop. Facebook would use the drones to help deliver internet access to areas of the world that still lack connectivity.
Citing an unnamed source “with access to information about the deal,” TechCrunch on Monday reported that Facebook will pay $60 million for Titan Aerospace, a privately held venture with research and development facilities in New Mexico. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report.
If the deal goes through, Titan would purportedly begin building 11,000 unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver Internet access to regions in Africa as a start to Facebook’s ambitious global connectivity project.
The rumor comes after Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg in August spearheaded a new organization dubbed Internet.org aimed at increasing access to the Web, with the stated goal of bringing the Internet “to the next 5 billion people.” At this point, an estimated 2.7 billion people—about one-third of the world’s population—have access to the Internet.