Commercial drone operations could be out in full force by the middle of 2016, as a senior Federal Aviation Administration official said Wednesday that final regulations are expected to be issued within the next year.
"The rule will be in place within the year," FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker told a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during testimony, reported Reuters. He added, "Hopefully before June 17, 2016."
This is the most specific estimation yet on the timing of commercial drone regulations. Previous forecasts suggested rules wouldn't be issued until the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017, according to Bloomberg.
The rules would regulate the use of small commercial drones weighing less than 55 pounds, and companies like Amazon say they will be ready to begin air delivering packages to customers as soon as federal law allows.
"We'd like to begin delivering to our customers as soon as it's approved," said Paul Misener, vice president of global public policy at Amazon, reports Bloomberg. "We will have (the technology) in place by the time any regulations are ready. We are working very quickly."
Amazon said its goal is to role out its Amazon Prime Air service, where packages will be delivered to customers within 30 minutes of receiving the order via small unmanned aerial vehicles.
That service would require FAA rules to accommodate advanced drone technology, and officials are reportedly in discussions with industry stakeholders including Amazon and Google as they work to craft regulations to accommodate sophisticated drone systems that can fly autonomously over vast distances, according to Reuters.
The FAA drone regulations proposed in February are more limiting, restricting most commercial drone use and only allowing operators to fly during daylight hours, within their visual line of site and at altitudes of no more than 500 feet. Almost 600 waivers have been granted letting small drones fly for hire as long as they meet these stipulations, according to Bloomberg.
