Percepto Opens Axion Inspection AI to Other Drones

Percepto, an Austin-based company best known for drones that inspect power lines and industrial sites on their own, has launched software that works with other companies’ drones too. In a press release on 27 October, Percepto said its new Axion platform runs “more than 160 specialized AI models” on inspection data, and named Julien Bellanger as chief executive.

Axion is sold as a subscription, or software-as-a-service. Percepto has not published pricing, DroneXL reported.

What Axion does

Utilities and oil and gas firms collect huge amounts of photos, heat scans and video of their equipment. Percepto says Axion takes in data “from supported third-party drone platforms, fixed and mobile sensors, and existing inspection archives, so operators are not tied to a single hardware provider”.

The software files every image and finding under the asset it belongs to, such as a single pole or tower. Percepto says its models were “trained on more than 100,000 hours of real-world autonomous inspection data gathered over more than a decade”. They judge each problem in context: the release says Axion “can identify a downed wire by its relationship to surrounding components, or evaluate a thermal anomaly against expected asset behavior and environmental conditions”.

Operators can also ask questions in plain language. In a company blog post written in his own voice, Bellanger gives examples such as “What did the last inspection find on this structure?” Axion is available now. Percepto has not said which third-party drones it supports, and DroneXL notes that the product page names none.

New chief executive and a US customer

Bellanger leads a new management team that includes chief revenue officer Kurt Nantkes and chief marketing officer Amir Khoshniyati. “I joined Percepto as CEO to lead this next stage,” he wrote in the blog. In Percepto’s June product release, co-founder Dor Abuhasira was quoted as chief executive. Neither the new release nor the blog says what role he holds now; Bellanger writes that he is “grateful to the founders for building it”.

Percepto also said “a leading U.S. energy company” has signed a multi-year contract for drone data collection and AI analysis across its transmission network, extending a long-standing relationship. It did not name the company or give a value.

The firm will keep selling its own Ranger drones and Harbor docking stations. It operates under a nationwide FAA waiver to fly beyond visual line of sight, and says it is consolidating its engineering, manufacturing and assembly in the United States, citing “American Drone Dominance”.

Why the software matters more than the drone

Percepto’s pitch rests on one idea from Bellanger’s post: “The bottleneck has now moved to review.” Many operators already fly drones or hire inspection contractors. The slow part is a person sorting through thousands of images and deciding which fault needs a crew. As Bellanger puts it, “Inspection data without context is a stack of photos with no labels.”

Selling the software on its own lets Percepto reach operators who have already bought other hardware, which is a much larger market than its own fleet. It also turns its large archive of inspection footage into the main asset. Percepto is not alone in chasing infrastructure data: Torch Systems raised money for solar-powered sensors that watch remote sites, while Bedrock Robotics’ $600m round shows how much investors will pay for autonomy in heavy industry.

There are open questions. Percepto gives no accuracy figures for its 160 models, no list of supported drones and no named customers for Axion itself. Its hardware “remains a core part of the business”, Bellanger says, so the company is now selling both its own drones and software that makes rivals’ drones more useful. Drones are being used in many more settings, from medical deliveries in Uganda to grid work, and inspection software that works across makes could become the layer that matters most.

What Percepto promises next

Bellanger says that over the coming year Percepto will expand the assets and use cases Axion covers and connect more data sources. A list of supported drones, published accuracy results and a named utility customer would make it easier to judge the claims.