Walmart has been privately testing drones inside facilities and is now seeking permission from federal regulators to test them outdoors for various uses, including home delivery.
Thanks to advancing capabilities and greater accessibility, the use of drones is continuing to increase. In fact, global drone sales reached $4.3m in 2015, a 167-percent jump from two years ago. This surge should come as no surprise as people find more and more useful ways to put drones to work.
Tsuneishi Holdings Corporation is exploring the commercial applications of drones at its Hiroshima shipbuilding facility in an effort to increase both safety and productivity in daily operations.
U.S. Senator Cory Booker has introduced the "Commercial UAS Modernization Act," which could create temporary rules to allow commercial drone operations in the United States.
To hear some tell it, the world will soon be abuzz with small drones that inspect bridges, monitor pipelines, survey crops and help assess damage for insurance claims.
The Federal Aviation Administration is so slow to approve drone permits that the aircraft become obsolete while waiting, an Amazon executive told a Senate panel last week.
Google, Amazon and DHL are working on drones that could someday deliver packages straight to your doorstep. Unfortunately, most drones would struggle to carry something as heavy as a textbook more than a dozen kilometers on battery power.
