A proposed new federal rule would allow drones to be flown longer distances out of the operators line of sight
The U.S. government unveiled proposals Tuesday to make it easier to use drones over longer distances, in a potentially significant boost for companies such as Amazon which hope to fly packages to customers’ doors.
The drone industry has long-pressed for the change to existing rules which require companies to obtain a waiver when operating drones beyond the “visual line of sight”
In announcing the new proposed rule change, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, said the Trump administration was “unleashing American drone dominance” with the U.S. leading the way in the future of technology, instead of China.Why it Matters
Drones are already used in a variety of ways in the U.S. including bolstering search and rescue operations, applying fertilizer, inspecting power lines and railroad bridges, and even delivering packages.
The federal government had already approved 657 waivers to allow companies to use drones out of sight, including Amazon in College Station, Texas, as it develops the technology. The Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) rule would make it easier for firms to get approval to use drones in this way.
The move comes more than a decade after Jeff Bezos first unveiled Amazon’s plans for “Prime Air” delivery drones that would deliver packages directly to customer’s doors 30 minutes after they clicked order.
The move has been welcomed by the industry. Yariv Bash, co-founder and CEO of Flytrex, a Tel Aviv-based drone delivery company that has operations in Texas and North Carolina, called the proposed rule “a foundational milestone that paves the way for drone delivery to scale across more communities in the U.S.”
But the rollout of the technology has not been without problems.
