Google, Amazon and other big tech companies are staking a lot of resources on the idea that drones will play a huge and vital role in the future of commerce and business. A planned U.S. Department of Transportation task force to implement a drone registration system will lay down the basic system that could set out the future of rules for drones, much as the Department of Commerce created the underlying structure for Internet regulation a quarter of a century ago.
The government has been sometimes painfully slow to grapple with how to regulate drones. Delays and missed deadlines are as much part of the story as successful tests. The new task force, combining government and drone industry members, will set out what may end up being the basis for all future rules about drone regulation, such as the possibility of registration. The DOT has been looking into whether the FAA can legally require drone registration, as it would certainly make it easier to track anyone who misuses one.
"The whole process of creating drone regulations has been fraught with tension."
The whole process of creating drone regulations has been fraught with tension. Amazon has been impatient with the FAA's pace, testing its drones in Canada to advance faster than permission has been forthcoming in the U.S. Meanwhile, the FAA has been rapidly stepping up how quickly it hands out exemptions from the blanket ban on commercial drone use. The pressure on regulators to come up with clear, unambiguous rules is growing. Ultimately, it seems impossible for regulators to avoid a legal challenge, regardless of what they final rules look like. There's just no way every group involved with drones can be pleased at the same time.
Inevitable courtroom challenges shouldn't stop the task force though, not when the issue is this important. Drones offer an bigger opportunity than simply delivering things from one place to another, or recording images and video from unusual angles. Google has been working on high-flying drones to deliver Internet access. That kind of use could be a fundamental building block of technological development, especially in rural areas, making the task force's work even more essential.
Since the FAA will have to debate the rules anyway, the agency should try to take a lesson from the FCC. Net neutrality was repeatedly challenged and beaten in court. Knowing how the latest net neutrality guidelines would face the same problems, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler specifically made it a priority to plan for those challenges. Drone regulation will be attacked the same way, and the FAA and its task force will need to anticipate those fights. If this is the foundation of all future drone regulation, the rules will need to be able to handle any buffeting legal winds.
