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After months of feedback and fine-tuning, the Federal Aviation Administration today issued its final versions of safety rules for drones that fly over people and at night \u2014 including the drones that Amazon is developing to make package deliveries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new rules make way for the further integration of drones into our airspace by addressing safety and security concerns,\u201d FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a news release<\/a>. \u201cThey get us closer to the day when we will more routinely see drone operations such as the delivery of packages.\u201d<\/p>\n Draft versions of the rules were issued a year ago, kicking off a review period during which the FAA received about 53,000 comments. The final rules take effect in about two months.<\/p>\n One set of rules<\/a> lays out a system for remote identification of drones, which the FAA considers a key part of its plan to hold manufacturers and operators accountable if things go wrong. Once the rules take effect, if a drone isn\u2019t using the Remote ID system, it can fly only within a limited set of FAA-recognized areas.<\/p>\n Amazon and T-Mobile are part of an industry group<\/a> that\u2019s helping the FAA develop the technical requirements for Remote ID. So are other big players, such as Wing (which got its start as a Google project), Airbus and Intel.<\/p>\n In response to the feedback it received, the FAA said it wouldn\u2019t require drone manufacturers to make Remote ID accessible via internet-based services. Instead, drones could be retrofitted with radio transmitters if necessary to broadcast their Remote ID. That change addresses objections that were lodged by DJI<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s biggest drone manufacturers.<\/p>\n Drone operators will have 18 months to start producing drones with Remote ID, and operators will be given an additional year to start using drones with Remote ID.<\/p>\n