It won’t be long before local authorities create a specific traffic department to regulate civilian drones. A few years ago, drones were simply to expensive to be used by much of anyone outside of military and government professions. But as drone prices fell, drone applications have greatly increased. Now people are using drones for a lot of tasks such as taking high-resolution images, monitoring building sites, emergency services such as rescue operations, as well as personal recreation.

Modern drones can hit top speeds that were not possible to just a few years ago. Researchers are also making major breakthroughs in autonomous drone operation, which makes it possible to fly a drone even when the drone is out of sight of its operator. This makes it possible to use drones over wider areas to deliver goods and services. As great as that sounds, it is important for us to take a step back and think whether that is what we really want.

It is important to take into consideration how drones can better our lives. Some of the most important ways in which we benefit from drones is how they can help us in emergency situations. Drones have become critical in helping emergency responders better asses search and rescue operations, fire control, traffic emergencies, and more. They have also been very useful in helping deliver medical supplies to hospitals and remote stations. Furthermore, drones have been very successful in helping carry out high risk inspections jobs such as inspections on bridges, high rise buildings, and power lines. The standard way of preforming these inspections used to take many hours and would put workers in potentially dangerous scenarios. Inspecting high rise buildings many times included workers hanging on scaffolding which could be extremely dangerous if it got windy out.

As things currently stand, it is hard to receive permission to fly drones near buildings, helicopter routes, over public crowds, and other restricted areas. On top of that, there are currently no air traffic controls systems for drones as of yet.  There may not be an immediate need to come up with a drone traffic solution, but with the current rate as to how popular drones are growing, a needed solution may be right around the corner.