Dive Brief:
- National Association of Realtors President Chris Polychron testified before a House subcommittee on Thursday to urge legislators to approve "clear regulation that permits the commercial application of [unmanned aircraft systems] in a way that is affordable to users and safe for their communities, both on the ground and in the air."
- The association has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other groups to develop "responsible" regulations for commercial drones.
- Wide-scale commercial use of drones is prohibited, but the FAA has been issuing Section 333 waivers to grant exceptions to companies. So far, the agency has issued more than 1,300 of these waivers.
Dive Insight:
The House subcommittee was discussing necessary privacy protections to be tied to the expanded use of commercial drones.
The real estate and construction industries have been anxiously awaiting the FAA's clarifications on which kinds of drone activity are legal for commercial purposes and which licenses, paperwork and limitations will be required. As of July, 127 construction-related companies had received permission from the FAA to fly drones.
"Commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems... has the potential to create new jobs and businesses specializing in their uses," Polychron said in testimony before the subcommittee on courts, intellectual property, and the Internet.
Construction professionals want to use drones to photograph jobs in progress, bolster security and get "eyes" into spots that even a small airplane can’t fit successfully. And real estate agents see the potential of drones taking aerial photographs of homes as a tool that could help them sell homes.
Recently, however, the use of drones on job sites has also raised issues of privacy and concerns that workers will feel pressure to work excessive hours to keep progress on track.
