The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized commercial drone flights without visual observers in the same Dallas-area airspace, which the agency said will allow two companies to offer drone package delivery — part of the agency's efforts to evolve its regulations to keep up with changing technology.

The authorizations for Zipline International and Wing Aviation allow them to deliver packages while keeping their drones safely separated using Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) technology. In this system, the industry manages the airspace “with rigorous FAA safety oversight,” according to the agency.

Typically, when operating drones, the drone pilot must be able to always see the aircraft. However, new advancements in air traffic technology and procedures are providing a key step toward making these Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights routine, FAA said.

The FAA expects initial flights using UTM services will begin in August and issuing more authorizations in the Dallas area soon. 

Last fall, Walmart announced it was partnering with Wing Team, an on-demand drone delivery service provider, to expand airborne service to customers in the Dallas metro area. Wing is powered by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

How do UTM Services for Drones Work?

Using UTM services, companies can share data and planned flight routes with other authorized airspace users. This allows the operators to safely organize and manage drone flights around each other in shared airspace. All flights occur below 400 feet altitude and away from any crewed aircraft.

The industry developed consensus standards, which the FAA accepted, for how to accommodate multiple layers of low-altitude drone operations through UTM services. This kind of system provides high levels of safety without the need for overly burdensome regulations, the FAA noted in a blog post on Medium.

“The industry is providing us with a lot of detailed documentation and we’re providing a lot of oversight,” said Jarrett Larrow, Regulatory and Policy Lead at the FAA’s UAS Integration Office, quoted in the Medium post. “These public-private partnerships are key to safely integrating drones into our National Airspace System.”

FAA Preparing Drone Proposed Rule

This comes as the FAA works to release the Normalizing UAS BVLOS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which would enable drone operators to expand operations while maintaining the same high level of safety as traditional aviation. The agency said it’s on track to release the proposal this year, following strong Congressional support in the recent FAA reauthorization.

“Drones represent a very different type of aircraft than traditional commercial aviation, and the FAA’s approach to this new NPRM has evolved accordingly,” said the FAA in its announcement.

“Industry has created the market and technology, and the agency has worked with them on creative solutions to ensure operations can be done safely – UTM services are a clear example of this innovative approach. The NPRM has been designed to allow operations to scale with the size of the industry.”