Earlier this month, over 3,300 professionals and 230 companies from across the commercial drone industry came together at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the annual Commercial UAV Expo. The three-day event included a robust conference program along with roundtable opportunities for interactive conversation and countless networking opportunities on the exhibit hall floor. As we’ve previously covered, there were a few major takeaways from the event, and we have put together plenty of more granular coverage looking at individual exhibitors and sessions from the program.
As we get further away from the end of the event, however, and reflect upon the whirlwind three days, one particular takeaway continues to stick out from my perspective: The evolution of those within the industry. With Commercial UAV Expo being an annual event, it provides an ample opportunity to recognize how the industry is progressing year-over-year from myriad perspectives. Technologically, of course, the industry continues to evolve, with drones today in some cases being nearly unrecognizable from more nascent times in the industry. The same can be said for software, and even the regulatory environment is changing with each passing year.
When thinking about Commercial UAV Expo 2025, though, the evolution that stood out the most from my personal perspective, in part driven by my own observations and in part based on conversations I had with others through the week, is the evolution that professionals within the industry have undergone. To put it simply, professionals throughout the industry today are more knowledgeable and thinking more strategically, and it’s becoming more and more noticeable in everyday conversations.
As noted in the article referenced above, discussing some of the big themes of the event, one of the major shifts in conversations around commercial drone usage is talking about the use case before flying. It sounds like a simple concept, and it’s always been somewhat present, but this year it really felt like it was more of a core piece of presentations and panel discussions throughout the conference program.
It wasn’t all that long ago that simply being able to fly a drone for a project was worth talking about, and some were really just flying because they could. Now, the conversation is more regularly shifting toward higher-value ends, with pilots recognizing more and more that there is a greater need to build out expertise outside of just flying the drone. Being able to work with lidar data, or format data to integrate cleanly into clients’ GIS software, or how to properly compose photography, or many of the other skills needed for particular verticals, is becoming a separating factor for pilots looking to win business.
This evolution of professionals was certainly evident in many of the presentations – as well as the questions from attendees following presentations – but exhibitors were noticing this change, too. Spending a lot of time throughout the week walking the floor and speaking with exhibitors, I asked many of the returning exhibitors what they’ve noticed about the 2025 events compared to previous years. Nearly all of them gave some variation of attendees asking more technical questions than in previous years. This is, of course, entirely anecdotal, but it tracks with how one would expect an industry to evolve.
One example of this evolution could be seen at booths for companies that provide lidar solutions for drone pilots. In years past, many of the representatives at these booths had to spend a good portion of their time explaining what lidar is, how it works, and why organizations could benefit from using the data from these systems. There is still some of that happening today, to be sure, but the industry is now much more knowledgeable about how this type of technology works.
In a recent webinar hosted by Commercial UAV News, Cyberhawk’s Scott Lashmit noted that the commercial drone industry is no longer in its infancy. Rather, it’s now at least in its toddler stage. I may take it a step further and say that, at least in terms of attitudes from professionals, it’s moving into adolescence. Professionals in this industry are more educated about different corners of the sector than ever before, and are thinking more strategically, asking the smarter questions, and diving into more technical aspects of the profession. That’s clear in nearly every conversation these days, and was particularly evident at this year’s Commercial UAV Expo.
Commercial UAV Expo 2026 will be back in Las Vegas, taking place September 1-3. And if you don’t want to wait that long, Commercial UAV Forum will be taking place in Amsterdam next spring, April 22-23, 2026.
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