“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s BYD (Big Friendly Drone)!
XPRIZE Wildfire is a 4-year, $11 million global competition launched by XPRIZE to address the growing threat of destructive wildfires. It aims to incentivize the development of innovative, autonomous technologies to rapidly detect, characterize, and suppress wildfires before they become uncontrollable, allowing humanity and beneficial wildfires to coexist safely. The competition is divided into two tracks:
– Track A: Space-Based Wildfire Detection and Intelligence ($5M) focuses on satellite-based systems for rapid, large-scale wildfire detection.
– Track B: Autonomous Wildfire Response emphasizes integrated autonomous technologies, such as drones and robotics, to detect and extinguish wildfires quickly.
Launched on April 21, 2023, the competition addresses the escalating issue of Extreme Wildfire Events (EWEs), which cause over 80% of fire-related damages globally and cost approximately $350 billion annually in the U.S. alone. It is supported by co-title sponsors like Pacific Gas & Electric and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, with additional partners including Lockheed Martin and the Minderoo Foundation.
Teams from around the world compete to create solutions that transform wildfire management. There are now 11 teams in the final round of Track A and 15 teams in the semi-final phase of Track B, respectively.
This fall, the XPRIZE Wildfire operations team has been traveling to each Autonomous Wildfire Response (Track B) semi-finalist team location for in-field testing. Teams will physically demonstrate their autonomous end-to-end wildfire response system, including smart detection, autonomous navigation and safety, and autonomous suppression, along with an overall technical readiness and scalability assessment of their system. The performances of these live trials will decide which teams move to the final round of the Autonomous track.
Fire Foresight, a consortium team of four startups, led by Little Place Labs. The other three teams are Indicium Dynamics, Taz Drone Solutions, and Robotics Cats, is now competing in XPRIZE Wildfire Track B. Our solution leverages a layered architecture that combines satellite data processing, AI-powered image recognition, ground-based sensors, and autonomous suppression drones, will identify, assess, and respond to wildfire threats within minutes. Subsystems across multiple locations are connected via private 5G networks and QoS-powered Internet, enabling encrypted, real-time data exchange and the generation of actionable insights.
In August 2025, the Fire Foresight team, a XPRIZE Wildfire Track B semi-finalist, showcased our system to the XPRIZE Wildfire operations team in Tasmania, demonstrating its cutting-edge capabilities.
A video speaks louder than a million words. Watch our system in action:
Looking ahead, Fire Foresight is collaborating with global partners to test and refine our autonomous wildfire detection and response system in real-world environments under controlled conditions. Our testing journey begins in Southeast Asia, followed by South America, Europe, and the United States.
If you spot a bucket-like object soaring through the sky, it’s not a UFO—it might just be our Big Friendly Drone (BFD)!
