The flying robot equality bill aims to end prejudice inside heavily segregated FAA airspace, among other things.
From The Washington Post:
"The FAA is also required under the bill to provide military, commercial and privately-owned drones with expanded access to U.S. airspace currently reserved for manned aircraft by Sept. 30, 2015. That means permitting unmanned drones controlled by remote operators on the ground to fly in the same airspace as airliners, cargo planes, business jets and private aircraft.
Currently, the FAA restricts drone use primarily to segregated blocks of military airspace, border patrols and about 300 public agencies and their private partners. Those public agencies are mainly restricted to flying small unmanned aircraft at low altitudes away from airports and urban centers."
Comments
terrorist death toll 2001 till 2010= 3000
choking death toll 2001 till 2010= 28000
I would think they would order there UAV's form china like the rest of us ! warning terrorist posing as FBI !
Cliff, what you mention is the only aspect of this political issue I find interesting.
The technology roadmap for managing flight control towers, drone operators, human, and robo-pilots will be very exciting and will surely impact civilization's growth and potential.
Whatever they end up doing, I hope civil rights for the machines affected are actually and carefully considered. Most people give robotic vehicles the same level of empathy and respect as they would a desk lamp.
Electronic lifeforms in the future will definitely evolve to be more 'sentient' than current technology. Just because their grey matter consists in chips, electrons, wires, and they live in a permissively vegetative / programable state doesn't mean their rights shouldn't be taken into account. kind of like coma patients. People easily forget that non-humanoid, 'working class' robots are the same species as WALL-E, T-1000, C3PO and all the other celebrity robots we learned to care about. I am serious about this
Congress is just recognizing what we already know: there are applications in the private and commercial fields for UAVs. I'm sure there's going to be some limitations unless the commercial/private (i.e. We) sectors develop some regulations built into the hardware that is involved with UAVs.
Basically I think in the end, we'll all be required to have GPS, and certain areas will have "GPS lock out" established--a true no-fly zone built into the hardware. One thing is it looks like they feel good about allowing fully autonomous aircraft--that's the win for the drone community (us).
Much like craigslist.org, many uses, lots of possibilities, but all you need is one person that can bring it all down quickly
Can you elaborate on that weight/duration limit?
2.2lbs...I start working on my paper plane with AP now....
I think you have it there Rory, election coming up to slow it all down again. Just remember this kids, 2.2lbs no more than 30 minutes.
some news to lift the spirits....but then again I have been at this long enough to know the light at the end of the tunnel us usually the FAA freight train towing the defense industry big boys..
A sticking point - Unions for the UAV's ;)
No gay UAV marriage?
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