Axon, the company best known for developing the Taser, said it was halting plans to develop a Taser-equipped drone after a majority of its ethics board resigned over the controversial project.
This photo provided by Axon Enterprise depicts a conceptual design through a computer-generated rendering of a taser drone. Taser developer Axon says it is working to build drones armed with the electric stunning weapons that could fly in schools and “help prevent the next Uvalde, Sandy Hook, or Columbine.” But its own technology advisers quickly panned the idea as a dangerous fantasy.
The board had voted 8-4 a few weeks ago to recommend Axon not proceed with a pilot of the Taser drone and had concerns about introducing weaponizing drones in over-policed communities of color. Smith had rejected that idea in an interview with the AP last week and said he was pressing ahead because he believed the Taser drone could be a viable solution to save lives. He contended the idea needed to be shared as part of the public conversation about school safety and effective ways for police to safely confront attackers.
“We tried from the start to get Axon to understand that its customer has to be the community that a policing agency serves, not the policing agency itself,” one of the board’s members, Barry Friedman, a New York University law professor, said in an interview. “It has been a painful struggle to try to change the calculus there.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Axon halts plans for Taser drone as 9 on ethics board resignThe company said it was working to build drones armed with the electric stunning weapons that could fly in schools and “help prevent the next Uvalde, Sandy Hook, or Columbine.”
Read more »
Axon drops Taser drone idea after 9 on ethics board resignAxon, the company best known for developing the Taser, said Monday it is halting plans to develop a Taser-equipped drone after a majority of its ethics board resigned over the controversial project.
Read more »
Axon halts plans for Taser drone as 9 on ethics board resignThe company best known for developing the Taser, said it was halting plans to develop a Taser-equipped drone
Read more »
Axon Ditches Plans for Weaponized Taser Drones as Majority of Ethics Board ResignsThe company that makes Tasers is scrapping plans to develop drones to incapacitate mass shooters after nine of the 13 members of its ethics advisory board resigned over objection to the project
Read more »
Company halts plans for Taser-firing drone after most of ethics board resignsAxon, the company best known for developing the Taser, said Monday it was halting plans to develop a Taser-equipped drone after a majority of its ethics board resigned over the controversial project.
Read more »
Plans for Taser drone halted after 9 on company’s ethics board resignThe company best known for developing the Taser says it’s halting plans to develop a Taser-equipped drone.
Read more »