Submitted by the Office of Rep. Rick Larsen

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02), the Ranking Member on the House Subcommittee on Aviation, met this week with the Small UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) Coalition and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) to discuss opportunities and challenges in the drone industry.

The Small UAV Coalition is a “partnership of leading consumer and technology companies who believe that U.S. leadership in the research, development, production, and application of unmanned aerial vehicles will benefit consumers in all walks of life.” AUVSI is the “world’s largest nonprofit organization devoted to advancing the unmanned systems and robotics community.”

“As the drone industry continues to grow, businesses and regulators must work together to develop new rules to navigate uncharted territory,” said Larsen. “It was great meeting with the Small UAV Coalition and AUVSI to discuss how regulations can support companies that are pursuing innovations such as the use of drones for package delivery, while also ensuring high safety standards for the public, the environment and other aircraft.”

Earlier this month, Larsen delivered a keynote address at an aviation symposium in Seattle about the future of the drone industry.

Larsen has consistently called for a strong regulatory system to safely grow the drone industry. In 2015, Larsen praised the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to create a registration process for unmanned aircraft systems and when the agency announced its final rule on small drones in June of this year, Larsen called it “an important first step in establishing rules of the road.”