Linux Foundation's Dronecode Foundation Celebrates Landmark Year of Innovation and Growth in 2024

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dronecode Foundation, celebrating 10 years of supporting and fostering the open source aerial robotics community, today released its 2024 Year in Review Report highlighting substantial growth across the PX4 ecosystem. The foundation reported significant technical achievements within its projects and among its member organizations. The foundation also welcomed five new members in 2024, expanding its diverse membership base and solidifying it as a cornerstone of safe, secure, and efficient aerial robotics development.

The Dronecode Foundation's ecosystem, powered by a global community of 13,307 unique contributors, now represents an estimated project value of $1 billion and encompasses over 59.72 million lines of code. Using LFX Insights by the Linux Foundation, the foundation generated a detailed report showcasing its expansive reach across six continents, with significant contributions from the United States, Switzerland, and Australia. In 2024 alone, the community grew by 1,900 new contributors, underscoring a year of remarkable growth and engagement. LFX Insights provided the precise metrics and analytics needed to highlight the foundation's impact, demonstrating the strength and vibrancy of its open-source projects.

Key developments in the PX4 ecosystem from 2024 include:

• Introduction of the new FMUv6X-RT standard, featuring the first NXP-based MCU on a Pixhawk
• Release of PX4 v1.15 Stable with enhanced autonomous navigation capabilities
• MAVSDK reaching version 3.0.0
• Improved ROS 2 integration across the ecosystem
• More than 13,000 contributors supporting open source
• Five new member organizations
• Four global events and meetups

"Open source innovation flourishes through the shared dedication of our global developer community," said Ramón Roche, General Manager of the Dronecode Foundation. "A decade into our journey, it's amazing to see the PX4 community thriving. Every time a new product is developed on top of PX4 or released using one of our open standards, it's a reminder of the impact of our work. This success belongs to everyone who contributes to our ecosystem and downstream to everyone who interacts with drone technology in their careers, research, and projects. That is the power of open source!"

The Dronecode 2024 Year in Review Report highlights not only the results and progress of PX4 ecosystem projects, but also the many developers who contribute to the projects' success. Included in the report are statistics on contributions, project updates, hardware releases, video interviews with contributors, a funding breakdown, and testimonials from the foundation's members. It serves as a comprehensive look into the development of PX4, Pixhawk, MAVSDK, MAVLink, and QGroundControl and the individuals that support and maintain them.     

For more information:

• Download the complete 2024 Year in Review Report
• Visit the Dronecode Foundation website

About the Dronecode Foundation 
The Dronecode Foundation is a vendor-neutral organization supporting multiple open source projects in aerial robotics, including the PX4 Autopilot, MAVLink communication protocol, QGroundControl ground control station, and MAVSDK software development kit. Founded in 2014 as part of the Linux Foundation, Dronecode stewards the development of critical drone technologies used by over a million drones worldwide across commercial, government, and research applications. The foundation brings together a global community of developers, enterprises, and organizations to create safe and reliable standards and tools for autonomous systems. Through its collaborative approach, Dronecode accelerates innovation in drone technology while ensuring interoperability, security, and reliability across the ecosystem.

Media Contact
Mike Pehel
Dronecode Foundation
[email protected]

SOURCE The Linux Foundation