WSJ: Proposed FAA rules may ground delivery drones

NEW YORK — Same-day delivery by way of drones may no longer be the way such online retailers as Amazon overcome the convenience and immediate gratification of an in-store shopping experience, according to a report published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal. 

 

According to the report, the Federal Aviation Administration's proposed rules on commercial drones, expected to be published next month, might make the cost barrier in operating drones too high to overcome. The Wall Street Journal reported that the FAA would mandate operators have pilot licenses, limit drone operations to daytime hours and would require that operators have line-of-sight on the drones. 

 

The line-of-sight requirement would inhibit use of drones as a delivery vehicle. As would requiring that one person be at the controls of each drone, that requirement may add on too much operations cost to make the drone delivery viable. 

 

The FAA’s planned rule “is going to be a serious limiter,” Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who studies robotics policy, told The Wall Street Journal. “If they were going to have one pilot for each drone, they might as well put someone on a bicycle and send them over to your house.”