Michigan drone company pitches itself as alternative to Flock
A company to replace Flock? Meet Birdstop I.O
Birdstop I.O says they can do a better job that Flock cameras. The controversial data tracking system has found itself in the public eye over how its data is used. So how does Birdstop work?
(FOX 2) - An autonomous drone company is pitching itself as the best replacement for Flock, the stationary cameras that have found themselves in the public eye over controversial uses of the data they collect.
Meet Birdstop I.O, which says its prepared to fill in the gaps of Flock.
Their CEO argues autonomous drones are better capable of filling out the role of tracking down stolen vehicles and finding missing people.
A Flock replacement?
Big picture view:
Flock has found itself the controversial tool of law enforcement agents who have allegedly used data collected by the static cameras for personal uses.
According to their website, Flock says they have helped locate over 10,000 missing people since 2025 and that 40% of their customers recovered more than half of all stolen vehicles in their area.
The company, which has a major footprint in Metro Detroit, has been subject to lawsuits over how they store their data.
Dig deeper:
Birdstop moved to Michigan in 2025.
It operates a fleet of autonomous drones that are positioned on utility lines and other strategic locations with the ability to respond in seconds.
"We're not doing passive surveillance on people. On people who have done nothing wrong, we do not capture data. We do not care," said Birdstop CEO Keith Miao. "If there is nothing wrong, these drones just sleep. They're just dormant on their perch"
What about data?
Local perspective:
According to Miao, the data collected by their drones are not stored by them.
"The data always belongs to the customer. If it's the fire department, the police department, the sheriffs or if its the power's company, that data is theirs," said Miao.
The Source: Companies Birdstop and Flock were cited for this story.