As a result of the Trump administrations’ approval to increase the use of unmanned aircraft, some Americans could see more drones flying around their neighborhood. The new policy was recently launched to expand testing of drones by government and commercial organizations for day and night operations, including flights over people and those out of the line of sight of the operator. The pilot program intends to speed up the integration of UAVs into the country’s airspace as well as test detection and tracking.

The communities chosen to participate will create their own trial programs in conjunction with local drone users. The administration expects to approve about five applications, but there is no limit on the number of testers. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will review the program and grant the necessary waivers. For example, flights over people and flights beyond the line of sight of the drone operator, both of which are currently restricted. Several tests will be carried out as well such as package deliveries, reliability, security of data, collision prevention technology and drones flying in restricted areas.

Drone manufacturers and users have been pushing for less restrictive laws for a while now. In June of 2017 , Trump addressed the issue with industry leaders at a White House meeting. During the past two years, over 1 million drones have been registered by the FAA. Most of these drones belong to hobbyists and have increased the number of drones in the airspace when compared to manned aircraft in the U.S. Hence the importance of this policy.

Safety limitations on drone flights have restricted the use of drones and tech companies wanting to test and deploy new features such as commercial deliveries and out-of-sight flights which is why most of these tests are being done abroad. One example is Google’s Project Wing that was tested in Australia, as well as Amazon’s drone deliveries in the United Kingdom.

Michael Kratsios of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy told reporters that the program will gather data on drone operations. This will assist the government in developing an air traffic control system for low-flying UAVs. He stated that the data will be used to develop drone operations all around the country.

The test program will not address complaints by local governments about the privacy, safety, and nuisance risks that low-flying drones pose to the general public. The program also does not protect property rights. So even though the FAA has full authority to regulate the national airspace, we could see some communities and organizations passing their own restrictions.

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