Earlier this month, over 3,300 professionals and thought leaders from across the commercial drone industry came together for the annual Commercial UAV Expo, which was held September 2-4 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event, which also boasted 230 exhibitors and attendees representing all 50 states as well as 62 countries, took place over three days and included networking opportunities, panel discussions, presentations, peer-to-peer roundtable discussions, and more. Every year, the event is a great chance to catch up on what the latest trends are within the industry, and see what others in similar roles are working on and thinking about.
To capture that sentiment and receive some outside perspective on what the biggest takeaways and trends within the industry were for this year’s event, Commercial UAV News recently hosted a webinar entitled Beyond the Conference: Where Commercial UAV Technology is Headed to speak directly about some of the takeaways from this year’s event. Moderated by Commercial UAV News content manager Matt Collins, the webinar featured insights from Scott Lashmit, UAS consulting & complex UAS operations at scale at Cyberhawk; and Dr. Chris Raabe, global CTO with ACSL Inc. The full 60-minute discussion is available for free, on-demand viewing, and you can learn more about the conversation below.
The conversation was a wide-ranging one, touching on a variety of topics from the event, with Lashmit and Dr. Raabe coming to the discussion from slightly different points of view. Lashmit was a speaker during the event’s Thursday keynote discussion, in which he sat on a panel discussing the importance of collaboration within the industry. Dr. Raabe, meanwhile, spent most of his event on the exhibit hall floor at his company’s booth, getting a feel for the questions attendees were asking and the general buzz around the floor.
To that end, one of the aspects of the event Dr. Raabe discussed from his vantage point was the questions people had from a technology point of view. Although he noted that there were plenty of typical questions that come around for nearly every iteration of this event, he backed up a point made earlier this week at Commercial UAV News around the crowd being generally more informed and strategically-leaning in conversations. He had more technical questions coming to him about various products at the ACSL booth, and more pointed questions from pilots and other professionals in the industry.
Regulations were, of course, another major point of conversation both for Dr. Raabe on the exhibit hall floor and Lashmit throughout the conference programming section of the event. A significant portion of that, of course, was discussion around the Part 108 NPRM, which at the time of the event had been released for roughly a month and for which the public commenting period was right around its halfway point. Lashmit noted how important it was to have people in a room talking specifically about this NPRM rather than shoehorning it into other discussions. He also pointed out that many individual pilots seem confused about what their waiver processes could look like moving forward, and just generally how they fit into the Part 108 ecosystem, a theme that has come up throughout this commenting period.
Speaking of the commenting period, it was also brought up by both speakers just how important it is to take advantage of this ability to leave public comments. By law, the FAA has to read every comment left during this period, and they have a real effect on what the final rule will look like. Whether it’s for aspects you feel need to be changed, or even pieces of the NPRM that are a positive for your organization, it’s vital to leave comments and make sure that is known by the FAA.
Finally, the panel looked a bit toward the future and where the industry will head over the next year following the 2025 event. Lashmit, for his part, touched on the importance of building a pipeline for new pilots to enter the organization. Many universities had a presence on the exhibit hall floor this year, and Lashmit called out the importance of sharing this industry as a potential path forward for students even younger, during their high school days.
Dr. Raabe, meanwhile, when asked about what the biggest talking point in the industry will be at this time next year, pointed to potential bans of foreign-manufactured drones, particularly those coming in from China. He said that whether a ban goes through or not, this will be a major point of discussion over the next year, and if a ban does go through, he predicts it will be a bigger talking point than even Part 108.
Want to learn more about this webinar? Find more information, including key takeaways and short clips from the discussion, on our post-webinar page. You can also register for a full recording of the 60-minute discussion.
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