The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has selected eight companies to aid the Remote Identification (Remote ID) development initiative, which the agency said would ultimately integrate drones into the nation’s airspace.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) or drones would be able to provide identification and location information while operating through Remote ID. Drones are a fast-growing segment of the transportation sector, with nearly 1.5 million of the devices and 160,000 remote pilots now registered with the FAA.
“The FAA will be able to advance the safe integration of drones into our nation’s airspace from these technology companies’ knowledge and expertise on remote identification,” Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said.
Airbus, AirMap, Amazon, Intel, One Sky, Skyward, T-Mobile, and Wing were selected through a Request for Information process in December 2018. The firms will support the FAA in developing technology requirements for other companies to develop applications needed for Remote ID.
The applications would provide drone identification and location information to safety and security authorities while in flight.
According to the FAA, the technology is being developed in conjunction with the proposed Remote ID rule, with the agency indicating application requirements will be announced when the final rule is published. The FAA will then begin accepting applications for entities to become Remote ID suppliers.