Funke
Fully Autonomous Flight 2.0

Hello people with radical new ideas! We are at the dawn of a new era of flight - smart, autonomous, and limitless.

Autonomous drones have the power to dramatically improve the way we live: delivering goods to remote areas, saving lives in extreme conditions, and performing tasks that are dangerous or even impossible for humans. To unlock this potential, we need breakthrough innovation.

The dream of fully autonomous flight is not yet a reality. What is missing are robust systems that can safely navigate complex environments without GNSS or human intervention. We are tackling this problem one more time with our new SPRIND Funke Fully Autonomous Flight 2.0.

The Call

The call for proposals opens on May 5, 2025. Applications will be accepted through June 10, 2025.

We're looking for bold teams who have visionary ideas and are ready to rethink autonomous drone flight from the ground up.

Teams of all legal forms from the EU, EFTA countries and Israel are eligible to apply. International collaborations beyond these regions are welcome. The SPRIND Funke will run for a total of 14 months, with potential funding of up to €500,000 per team, distributed over two phases.

Ready for the next leap?

Full details will be published here on 5 May 2025.

This was Funke 1.0 with science youtuber Jacob Beautemps.

Do you have further questions?
Please feel free to contact us at challenge@sprind.org.

More about this topic

Podcasts

#80 Anne-Sophie Polz (17.6.2024)

32:31

Wann werden wir von elektrischen Flugtaxis abgeholt? Wie autonom fliegt der Autopilot? Und wie hart ist die Drohnen-Challenge der SPRIND? Unser Host Thomas Ramge spricht mit Anne-Sophie Polz, Pilotin und Drohnenentwicklerin von der Technischen Universität Berlin.

Magazine Articles

9/24/2024

Pioneers of the sky

These are the pioneers of fully autonomous flying

4/19/2024

SPRIND FUNKE FULLY AUTONOMOUS FLIGHT – 10 teams qualify for autonomous drone race

In April 2024, the participating teams met at the airbase in Erding to demonstrate the technological progress that has been made over the past 2.5 months.

More Challenges and Funken

Composite Learning

1st stage of the Challenge

The focus is on developing solutions that enable efficient model training on heterogeneous Hardware, from high-performance GPUs to CPUs of different types and manufacturers.

Deepfake Detection and Prevention

1st stage of the Funke

The prototype to be developed must demonstrate how deepfakes images can be reliably detected and authenticated. It can be AI-supported and should be able to continuously adapt to new deepfake techniques.