Widespread commercial use of drones is getting closer to reality as the FAA granted another 8 companies the right to fly drones commercially. Although by far not a huge number, the grand total of companies allowed to fly legally is now 24. Whilst the FAA received over 342 commercial drone flying applications, it has yet to go through all of them. One things is sure, and that is that they are taking their time.
Slowly, but surely, USA is hopefully heading on the right path to making increase use of this technology of the future. Other countries such as China are making quick progress, with Alibaba now testing delivery drones on a large scale. They tested delivery of tea bags to a total of 450 customers who lived on average 6 miles away from the drone controller. FPV reliance for these kind of deliveries is a must and unfortunately it is still illegal in most of the Western countries such as USA, UK and most of Europe, even for amateur flying purposes.
Most of the government organisations regulating drone flying mention that the drone must at all times be kept within line of sight and you could face a hefty fine for FPV flying. Unfortunately this attitude and the recent examples in the news of drones crashing into various buildings and invading privacy might cause the United States to lag behind in this multi billion dollar industry.