The Latin American drone market is beginning to surge, and two countries – Chile and Brazil – are leading the way.

Chile’s main drone focus is the nation’s prodigious mining industry, one of the largest and most lucrative in the world.  Everything from copper to manganese and bauxite ore is mined in Chile.  The work used to be conducted by low-skilled miners who conducted the back-breaking excavation by hand, with picks and shovels, frequently suffering death or injury when heavy machinery failed or mine shafts collapsed.  In fact, Chile was one of the first countries to introduce drones for aerial mine mapping – well over a decade ago, when the global drone industry was still in its infancy.

Chilean engineers designed and produced those first-generation mining drones, which allowed excavations to become better targeted, while also eliminating the need for human field surveyors to expose themselves to workplace injury through laborious and time-consuming field inspections.

Today, Chilean mining drones are engaged in a wider range of applications, including the deployment of explosives to open new veins for exploration.  But Chilean mining companies are also creating technology partnerships with foreign companies like Airobotics, based in Israel, which has previously pioneered the introduction of autonomous mining drones in the US and Australia.  Airobotics is working in partnership with Rock Blast, a leader in mining exploration, to introduce the same autonomous technology into Chile.  It’s a pioneering effort – the first in all of Latin America, in fact – that promises to transform the industry by allowing for more efficient terrain mapping and measurement of stockpiles as well as enhanced security and safety for all mining personnel.

Research indicates that automation in the Chilean mining industry has already resulted in a 25% increase in productivity, but far greater gains are likely once more mining drone operations become fully automated, reducing the need for

pilots, heavy equipment and in some cases, in the miners themselves.

The Brazilian drone case doesn’t involve mining but other critical sectors – including agriculture and defense.  Last September, Brazil-based Embraer, one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world, acquired a large minority share of XMobots, one of Latin America’s largest drone companies.  XMobots is a pioneer in drone-based “precision” agriculture, the state-of-the-art technology that allows landowners to target their inputs to areas of land most in need of seeds, fertilizer and pesticides, reducing their costs and maximizing crop yields.  Large conventional airplanes burn fuel and leave a large carbon footprint while drones, relying on batteries and pilotless aircraft, enhance sustainability. XMobots drones can analyze soil fertility and crop disease and pre-program their craft to fly and dispense resources where they can do the most good.

Some of the latest XMobots applications in agriculture include autonomous crop cultivation and automated warehousing and packaging.  The cost savings in expensive and difficult-to-recruit farm labor alone is enormous.  All of the leading Brazilian export crops, including soybeans, sugar cane and oranges (Brazil produces one-third of the world’s supply), are poised to realize major increases in their seasonal farm yields thanks to XMobots.

Embraer is also helping to pioneer another cutting-edge drone application: unmanned passenger vehicles, or flying taxis.  Eve, an independent company founded by Embraer two years ago, is part of an exclusive group of start-up firms – the others are China-based EHan and US-based, Archer Aviation and Joby – dedicated to promoting “urban air mobility” worldwide.  Eve just completed trial;s of its 100% electric eVTOL passenger vehicles that are especially configured to minimize drone and pro[eller noise.  The firm expects its vehicles to be ready for commercial use by the end of 2026.  The company has already signed a major deal with India-based Spade that will allow the firm to become the top supplier of passenger vehicles throughout the South Asian continent.  Eve’s vision of transforming public and private transport and current road and air traffic management systems could soon place the company – and Embraer – at the forefront of next-generation development in the burgeoning drone industry.

Chile and Brazil are only the latest indications of how fast the drone industry is not only growing – but also rapidly diversifying.  While China, the United States and Japan continue to dominate drone markets in terms of overall sales volume, other countries with smaller drone industries – from Greece and South Africa and to Australia, Sweden and even Norway – are emerging as important new players. While Latin America still accounts for a tiny share of the global drone market, some companies based on the continent are on the cutting edge of design and technology innovation in key niches and sub-niches.  They offer critical opportunities for lucrative joint ventures that will likely catapult the region to greater prominence in the years ahead.