US aviation regulators have approved the first fully automated commercial drone flight, which has allowed a small Massachusetts company to operate drones without hands-on pilots or direct observation by human controllers or observers.
The Federal Aviation Administration decision limits the use of automated drones to rural areas and altitudes below 400 feet, but is a potentially important step in expanding commercial applications of drones for farmers, utilities, mining companies and other customers.
It is also another step in the FAA’s wider effort to allow widespread flights by waiving case-by-case exceptions for specific vehicles performing specific tasks.
In approval documents posted on a government website on Thursday, the FAA said that once such automated drone operations are carried out on a larger scale, they could “ bring efficiency to many of the industries that feed our economy, such as agriculture, mining, transportation, ” and certain production segments.
The FAA previously allowed drones to inspect railway lines, pipelines, and some industrial sites out of sight of pilots or ground spotters, as long as such individuals were relatively close by.