On Wednesday, President Trump unleashed the unmanned aircraft system, or UAS, industry by signing a memorandum to allow drone researchers to operate more easily.
Seeing as the drone sector has the potential to generate vast economic opportunities, this is good news.
In specific terms, Trump’s memorandum will allow state and local governments to apply for “UAS innovation zones.” According to the White House, these zones will enable “pilot projects that can fly drones in ways that current FAA regulations restrict — such as flights beyond visual line of sight, flights at night, and flights over people.”
It’s a sea change from the Obama administration era, which saw many new regulations on drone development. And while Obama pledged to balance regulation with economic innovation, he drove major developers like Amazon to invest abroad. Today, the drone research hubs are in Britain and France, not America. Those nations rightly recognized that cultivating a friendly regulatory environment would attract high-paying jobs and sustained investment.
Fortunately, American developers now can get back in the game. The possibilities are limitless; imagine how goods prices will fall if drones, rather than delivery drivers, can take goods to your house and documents to your office? Yet it’s not just about big companies like Amazon. By opening up drone development possibilities to smaller companies and research teams who lack the funds to go abroad, the drone industry will grow in size, competitiveness, and skill.
Even then, this isn’t just about economics. Consider that drones are now being used to study whales in the oceans, to monitor hard-to-access ecosystems, to affordably plant trees in depleted forests,
and for an array of military purposes.
That’s just to name a few.
Finally, government is embracing the future.
