Drone Makers: Forget Privacy — FAA Should Focus on its Mission

Isabel Goyer

Friday, November 30, 2012 at 01:54 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The FAA has slowed the designation of official UAS (drone) testing sites, citing privacy concerns and integration difficulties, despite a congressional mandate for rapid progress.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), representing drone manufacturers, has openly criticized the FAA, urging them to fulfill their mission and immediately announce test site selections.
The article suggests the FAA's slowdown could be a deliberate tactic, as the original congressional timeline was seen as overly ambitious and public/congressional sentiment toward drone integration has significantly cooled.

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With the recent announcement by the FAA that it was slowing the process of designating official testing sites for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in part over privacy concerns, the organization that represents drone makers has a blunt message for the FAA that is perhaps best translated as, “Do your job.”

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) in an open letter to the FAA said that since “the primary mission of the FAA is safety” the agency should “adhere to the will of Congress” and immediately announce its UAS test site selection process in order to move UAS integration forward without further delay.”