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There are dozens of companies working on establishing a safe, cohesive drone traffic management system right now, but as far as the unmanned aerial vehicle industry and its security regarding the future goes, things are fairly up in the air. At least, that’s how companies like DJI, the world’s largest consumer drone company, GoPro, and 3DR seem to feel at this point.
To protect the industry, these companies have formed an Alliance for Drone Innovation which seeks to work with Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration to regulate national airspace and form a reasonable framework for the future.
A press release officially published by the ADI today expounds on what exactly this new alliance intends to provide the UAV industry with and gives us some insight on how it intends to go about it.
According to the press release, ADI consists of manufacturers, developers, and suppliers of drone tech, and is mainly policy-oriented. The group aims to protect individual, corporate, and academic rights and interests when it comes to drone use. It was presumably formed due to the current nebulous state of our governmental, FAA-regulated drone industry landscape. Former Department of Transportation Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, Jenny Rosenberg, is Executive Director of the alliance.
You may recall the Drone Manufacturers Alliance, a previous iteration of this new effort which also united the largest manufacturers of consumer and commercial drones. The ADI is merely a conscious expansion of this group, which the press release claims resulted from the strong increase in stakeholders aiming to work on and develop new and exciting drone tech. The ADI has been established as increased regulation of both the commercial and consumer drone industries threaten to hamper these efforts.
The ADI says it wants mainly to promote innovation and growth, which is precisely what drone tech has done in areas like agriculture and public safety in addition to giving people a chance to see the world from new perspectives. The cultural and economic benefits of drones, essentially, are laid out here in an effort to urge lawmakers and the media not to dampen the potential benefits these industries could reap in the future. In their own words, the ADI is working hard on “ensuring that government policies allow everyone to achieve the benefits of safe and responsible drone flight.”
“We look forward to working with Congress, the administration, and other stakeholders on policies that promote innovation and allow the drone market to flourish in a responsible and safe manner,” ADI Executive Director Rosenberg said.
As it stands, the ADI is comprised of original Drone Manufacturers Alliance members GoPro, DJI, 3DR, and more recently-joined members Skycatch, Horizon Hobby, Indemnis, Kittyhawk, Fat Shark, and Pelican Products. That’s a pretty respectable batch of commercial and consumer drone companies teaming up here, as a Justice League for drone rights, of sorts.
What the ADI hopes to do, essentially, is to be a reliable resource for those making policy at the highest levels. These people have the expertise, foresight, and tech-savvy to understand the current aerial landscape, as well as its potential future, more than anyone. The ADI merely wants to secure a stable dialogue with those in power, so that these industries can not only stay alive but flourish. Here’s hoping they’ll be taken seriously and work hard on retaining the right to safe, beneficial innovation for UAV tech across the country.
