The FAA plans to announce a project to study the flight of drones out of sight of the operator

The two largest companies that want to start using drones to deliver packages say that the US legislature suddenly became more loyal to their efforts. This means that there is a potential opportunity to increase the chances of success in the most promising way of using one of the most actively developing technologies.

Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. report that in recent weeks they have noticed a dramatic change in the position of the authorities regarding such important issues as test flights of drones.

As an obvious sign of a recent change in position, the Federal Aviation Administration plans on Wednesday to announce a project to study the flight of drones out of sight of the operator, according to a person aware of management plans. Until now, this department actually prohibited such flights, including for research purposes, and earlier this year proposed rules that would make them illegal.

The drone industry sees in flights out of sight the key to unlocking the commercial potential of drones, making it possible to provide anything from pipeline inspections to delivery services.
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Drones companies have criticized the FAA for its position on such flights and the requirement that one person should monitor the flight of each drone, which prevents large-scale automated missions from the drones fleet. The policy questions the odds that Amazon or Google will be able to deliver parcels using drones to the United States over the next few years.

Honestly, over the past two or three weeks, everything has changed significantly.

said on Thursday at a conference on drones Dave Vos, the head of Google's project on delivery using drones.

Three or four months ago, we were a bit puzzled by how much we could move in the US, but ... what we see today is a great opportunity to work in the US with the FAA

“I don't know what led to this,” Vos said later in an interview. "They talk with us, and we cooperate."

Gur Kimchi, head of Amazon's project on drones, said that the FAA had recently become more open to his company's attempts to use automated drones to deliver packages within 10 miles of the warehouse.

The FAA refused to give their comments.

Companies warned that the discussions are still preliminary. A spokesman for the federal services said that the FAA would almost certainly not change the rules for drones, which were put forward in February, to allow flights out of sight, until these long-awaited rules were introduced next year. This is partly due to the fact that any such change will require the admission of public comments, which would delay the introduction of these rules for some time.

The details of the planned announcement of the FAA on Wednesday for the project to study the flight of drones out of sight were initially unclear. At the moment, the FAA allows a subsidiary of Boeing Co. and employees of the Bureau of Customs and Border Control launch drones out of sight on the coast of Alaska and along the US border, respectively.

Such flights were allowed because the air traffic control service distinguishes between the concepts of drones and manned aircraft. Amazon and Google want their drones to fly almost autonomously in a busy airspace, which will require sensors and software that will allow devices to navigate in space, identifying and bypassing obstacles. Several companies say they are already close to developing such a technology.

Amazon and Google's comments are part of an increasing mutual understanding between the FAA and the drones industry, which was observed at last week’s conferences, and mostly caused by the proposed FAA's less stringent rules than might have been expected.