Discover how San Mateo, CA turned Drone as First Responder (DFR) from concept to reality. In this fireside chat, Phil Gonshak (Skydio, former Chief of Police and County Manager) sits down with San Mateo City Manager Alex Khojikian to unpack how the city built trust with council, aligned police and civic leaders, and secured community support for a cutting-edge DFR program. From slashing response times to addressing privacy and funding concerns head-on, this session delivers real-world strategies any city can adapt.

That’s a wrap on Ascend 2025. Relive the action and experience a family of flying robots serving the most pressing needs of the industries our civilization runs on. Here are the highlights: Skydio R10: For tight quarters and total confidence. The ease, durability and low operational cost of small consumer drones popular for indoor use, with the onboard lighting, communications and cloud integrations your mission demands. Launch, command, stream, and upload—everything needed to get the job done, built in. Skydio F10: Coming soon. F10 extends the radius of coverage to dozens of miles, handles long-distance missions, sustains coverage for extended incidents, and keeps pace when speed is critical. One operator, multiple drones. Multiply your productivity. Give one operator the ability to fly multiple drones independently across sites, all from a single browser. Keep subjects in view, without pilot effort. Skydio Shadow keeps a reliable lock on your subject—managing distance, avoiding obstacles, and instantly reacquiring when line of sight is lost, day or night. Watch the replay to see it all.

Hosted by Phil Gonshak with Mayor Lily Wu and Chief Joe Sullivan, the webinar showcased how Wichita is turning its aviation DNA into a modern public safety advantage with Skydio. In 2024 the city bought six Skydio X10s and launched pilot training with Wichita State University. By 2025 it had three docks, three training classes, and twenty-nine certified pilots, with full DFR going live from the Real-Time Information Center. Sullivan emphasized hard-won FAA compliance, a public flight-transparency dashboard, and a deliberate de-escalation mindset, using drones to get eyes on barricaded suspects, guide officers into large events like Riverfest, find missing children, and even curb property crime by preventing dangerous pursuits. Wu framed the effort as part of a broader smart city vision, with innovation grounded in research partnerships such as WSU and WSU Tech, and community trust built through upfront engagement. Looking ahead, Wichita is expanding Drone as First Responder beyond policing to fire, public works, and infrastructure inspections, treating drones as citywide infrastructure rather than a single-department tool. The program’s cross-department collaboration, including docks on fire stations and RTIC interns from WSU, lowers costs while raising capability, creating a transparent, data-driven model other cities can copy. The throughline is simple and compelling: pair autonomy with accountability, use data to earn buy-in, and scale responsibly, from today’s rapid response and scene assessment to tomorrow’s payload missions like Narcan delivery, so Wichita can respond faster, act smarter, and keep its community safer without sacrificing trust.