FAA pushed to approve drone deliveries

Tech industry executives for years have promised that drones — aircraft vehicles that operate without a pilot on board — are the future of delivery. The small, buzzy aircraft have increasingly emerged in the skies above U.S. cities, dropping products including food and medical supplies at or near peoples’ doorsteps.

But mainstream implementation of drone delivery services is likely still years off, as industry leaders say the federal agency in charge of civil airspace is taking its time crafting regulations that will make it legal to fly drones for commercial purposes, including delivery.

“The technology has moved quickly forward, and the policies and regulations have lagged behind,” Lisa Ellman, the co-executive director of the Commercial Drone Alliance in Washington, D.C., told The Hill in a phone interview this week.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has, over the past year, allowed top companies to test drone delivery programs in urban and rural areas across the U.S.

The agency is collecting information on how those programs play out in order to inform the rules for commercial drone use, which experts say could make drone delivery legal within the next two to five years.

But stakeholders in drone delivery complain that the FAA’s approach has largely been overly cautious. And privacy activists, labor unions and consumer groups for years have pushed to implement safeguards before widespread deployment, arguing the sensitive technology poses high-stakes safety, surveillance and employment concerns.