This year, Commercial UAV Expo celebrated its tenth anniversary, and the opening keynote presentation of the 2024 event looked at the progress the drone industry has made in recent years, where the UAV sector stands today, and what the next few years will hold for companies, organizations, and drone professionals.

At the beginning of the session, Commercial UAV News Editorial Director Jeremiah Karpowicz introduced acknowledged the tenth year anniversary of the event and encouraged attendees to come to Commercial UAV Expo Europe, scheduled for April 2025 in Amsterdam. He then turned the program over to Lisa Ellman and Gretchen West from the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA). Titled “The State of the Drone Industry: Will Better Collaboration Unlock the Full Potential of Drones?” their conversation touched on recent regulatory advances and the need for between public and private entities on policy.

Ellman, the CDA’s Executive Director, called the FAA Reauthorization Act “the biggest win over the last year” for the drone industry. This bill, which directs the FAA to establish a pathway for beyond visual line-of-sight operations, create two additional test sites for companies to start using unmanned aircraft for package delivery, and gives the FAA enforcement authority to prohibit unauthorized or unsafe use of UAS, will do much to move our industry forward, she stated.

The Act contains “provisions that could really help the industry scale and move commercialization forward so that we can take advantage of all of the benefits of commercial drones,” Ellman said.

The enactment of the FAA authorization, both West and Ellman asserted, came about because of close collaboration between drone companies and regulators involved in setting aviation policy. These collaborations need to continue, West said, as the implementation process continues.

“Over the next year, we are going to have a number of critical rule makings for our industry and there are so many opportunities for you all to be engaged, both through the Commercial Drone Alliance, on your own, and through your organizations,” West stated. “There are very important opportunities for you all to engage, and I hope that you do.”

Demonstrating the importance of public-private cooperation, the next part of the keynote presentation involved a one-on-one discussion between Ellman and Tim Arel, Chief Operating Officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization. Focusing on the need to safely integrate drones into the national airspace, Arel called for a shared communications system.

To this end, Arel explained the need for an “info-centric” safe data exchange system that would enable drone operators, conventional aviation pilots, public agencies, and others to have access to necessary safety information. This, he said, would help address critical issues around cyber security and public safety.

Central to the success of such a system, Arel said, was public acceptance. “As we continue to grow and work toward integration, we have to engage the public,” he stated, assuring them that systems have been put in place in a safe, responsible manner.

During the conversation, Arel also addressed the work being done at the UTM Test Site in Texas, where he said that he is “excited” about these efforts to develop a strategy for flying commercial drones in dense, urban areas and creating effective UTM systems. “We're looking to learn, along with the industry, the pros and cons, or the best practices, as we go to develop our management system,” he said.

The final segment of the keynote presentation involved a discussion focused on commercial opportunities and business strategies in the drone space. Moderated by the CDA’s Gretchen West, the conversation included Eric Brock from Ondas Autonomous Systems, Jon Damush of uAvionix Corporation, and Erik Mintz from Mitsubishi Electric. The panelists each gave their assessment of the current drone market and offered advice to industry professionals on how to move their business forward and achieve success and stability.

Commenting on the state of the industry, Brock said that the “regulatory backdrop has gotten stronger,” which will help companies attract capital and scale. Damush believes that the industry is emerging from a “trough of disillusionment” and is heading toward growth. For his part, Mintz compared the drone industry to the personal computer industry from years past and that it will soon have its “internet moment” and see increased growth.

To move forward, Mintz said that companies need to focus on defining themselves and their brands and engage with more extensive product marketing efforts. Damush said that drone companies must establish themselves to be fully capable of performing necessary tasks safely and effectively. “We have to get to a point where it’s boring, reliable, and safe,” he asserted. “When you do that, you're going to have a really good business.”

The approach that various companies are taking to doing so is directly connected to the Drone Delivery Update that took place later in the day. Moderated by Emily Kimball from Hogan Lovells, experts from Wing, Zipline Amazon Prime Air and the FAA took to the stage to further detail what it means to move drone delivery forward. The panel highlighted recent what it took for Zipline to hit 1 million deliveries and what it meant for the FAA to provide Amazon Prime Air with BVLOS approval.

“It’s a really exciting time for us,” said Matt McCardle, Head of Global Regulatory Affairs and Strategy at Amazon Prime Air.