AUVSI President and CEO Brian Wynne and Shyam Chidamber, drone supply firm Flirtey‘s “Senior Advisor and Chief Evangelist,” testified earlier than the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on “Delivery to Consumers.”
Wynne and Chidamber joined representatives from Postmates (a platform for native couriers) and Georgetown University. Each panel member gave a 5 minute assertion after which fielded questions from committee members.
Wynne’s assertion emphasised collaborative effort between authorities and business can be required for integration of drones into the NAS, and identified the advantages that drones have to supply.
“From inspecting pipelines to newsgathering to mapping flood zones, UAS help save time, save money and, most importantly, save lives,” mentioned Wynne. “It is no wonder why thousands of businesses – small and large – have already embraced this technology, and many more are considering integrating it into their future operations.”
Listing a few of the latest achievements in the drone business, Wynn mentioned that authorities ought to assist the industries efforts: “These advancements make it clear that we are at the dawn of a new American renaissance in technology, one that deserves government attention and support,” mentioned Wynne. “In the past, government invested heavily in physical infrastructure – from the nation’s air traffic control system to its interstate highway system – which ultimately had a tremendous impact on commerce… and the unmanned systems industry will be no different.”
Chidamber’s testimony was extra forceful in making the level that authorities must step up the tempo of drone integration in order to understand the advantages. Chidamber identified authorities’s duty to assist the business: “… Section 102 also states that FAA’s responsibility includes the encouragement and development of an air-transportation system properly adapted to the present and future needs of the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States. In other words, the ‘Fostering of Air Commerce,’” mentioned Chidamber. “The FAA has done a great job on safety, but has not kept pace with pace and diffusion of drone technology.”
Chidamber was direct in telling lawmakers that the drone business would transfer abroad if regulators didn’t transfer shortly. “And, over 1million drones were sold last Christmas in the United States. Almost all of them were manufactured in China,” he mentioned. “There is a huge risk here that if regulations stifle the emergence of this industry, the market leaders will start elsewhere… If regulations stifle the emergence of drone delivery, we may lose our lead in drone delivery technology and the $ multi- billion business that it is likely to become.”
