U.S. DOT Proposes BVLOS Rule, Opening Door to Commercial Drone Deliveries

The U.S. Department of Transportation on 5 Aug. released a long-anticipated proposal that would let commercial drones fly beyond an operator’s visual line of sight without the individual waivers currently required from the Federal Aviation Administration. The draft regulation, issued as Part 108, is the centre-piece of what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy calls the “American Drone Dominance” plan. Under the notice of proposed rulemaking, drones could operate at or below 400 feet (122 metres) from pre-designated, access-controlled locations once operators meet industry-consensus safety, cybersecurity and traffic-management standards. The rule sketches a new, streamlined air-worthiness approval process and would rely on automated data-service providers to keep drones separated from one another and from crewed aircraft. The shift is expected to accelerate routine use of drones for package delivery, infrastructure inspection, precision agriculture and emergency medical transport—applications championed by companies such as Walmart, Alphabet’s Wing and Amazon. A Trump administration executive order gave the FAA 240 days to finalise the regulation. The Transportation Department will collect public comments before moving to a final rule. Industry association AUVSI said a nation-wide BVLOS framework could unlock billions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of jobs by replacing the current patchwork of one-off exemptions.