What Auburn Hills businesses film from the air
Auburn Hills is an office and industry town at heart. Stellantis runs its North America headquarters here and held its 2026 Investor Day at the Auburn Hills campus, according to a company filing with the SEC. Corporate, R&D and logistics sites along I-75 need aerial photography and video for recruiting, investor material and facility marketing, where a drone shows the scale of a campus that no ground photo can.
Retail is the other anchor. Great Lakes Crossing Outlets sits at Baldwin Road off I-75, and SEA LIFE Michigan’s aquarium is inside it at Entrance 7, according to SEA LIFE. Tenants, restaurants and nearby hotels use aerials to show access and visibility from the interstate. Downtown is the growth story: the city describes a district along the Clinton River with Riverside Park, the Clinton River Trail and new developments including the Webster, the MiL, the Jordan and Fountain Circle, the kind of mixed-use and apartment projects that lease better with a drone video.
Open airspace, with delivery drones overhead
According to the FAA’s Class Airspace data, every point we checked in Auburn Hills, from downtown and Riverside Park to the Stellantis campus, Oakland University and Great Lakes Crossing, is uncontrolled Class G airspace at the surface. When we overlaid Oakland County International Airport’s Class D boundary on the Census city map, it did not reach Auburn Hills, though it comes within about half a mile of the city’s western edge. No LAANC is needed below 400 feet, and we check far-west addresses against the map.
What is unusual here is the other traffic. The City of Auburn Hills says Amazon Prime Air delivers packages by drone to parts of the city, launching from nearby Pontiac and flying at 205 to 250 feet on the way out and 325 to 370 feet on the way back. That overlaps the altitudes a Part 107 shoot uses. Our pilots watch for those aircraft and check B4UFLY or a LAANC app on the day for temporary restrictions.
Oakland University and private campuses
Oakland University’s 1,441-acre campus extends into Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, according to the university. Its drone policy, Policy 676, covers flights on or above university property. An outside operator needs a university Sponsoring Department, must submit OU’s authorization checklist to the university police and needs approval from Risk Management before flying. For a business next to campus, we launch from private land and keep the flight path off OU property unless that approval is in hand.
Most other big subjects in the city are private, secured campuses. We get written permission from the owner before launching and share the flight plan with site security. Michigan’s drone law stops local rules on flying, but it does not give a pilot the right to use someone else’s land as a launch pad.
Light, seasons and events
Glass-and-steel headquarters buildings read best in the hour after sunrise or before sunset, when reflections are soft. Fall color along the Clinton River and around Hawk Woods Nature Center is the strongest seasonal backdrop in the city. Downtown hosts events such as Summerfest, Paddlepalooza and the Friday Nights Downtown Music Series, according to the city. Part 107 limits flying over crowds, so event coverage is planned with a launch point we control.
Planning an Auburn Hills shoot
Send the address, date window and what you need delivered. We confirm the airspace, the property owner’s approval and any Oakland University sign-off before we send a quote. See our Detroit drone photography services, including commercial real estate drone photography and industrial drone video, or contact us to start.