Alphabet, Intel, FedEx, AT&T among drone pilot winners

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department said on Wednesday it had picked 10 drone test programs in California, Tennessee, North Dakota, Nevada and other states to study package delivery, agriculture, pipeline inspections, aircraft maintenance, healthcare and environmental monitoring.

Virginia Tech, one of the winners, said that Alphabet Inc’s Project Wing, AT&T Inc, Intel Corp, Airbus SE and Dominion Energy Inc are among the partners for its pilot program that will explore package delivery, emergency management and infrastructure inspection.

Amazon.com Inc, which has plans to deliver packages by drone, said it was not among the winners. But officials at the Federal Aviation Administration, the part of the Transportation Department overseeing the projects, said that many of the 149 total applications can be approved under existing FAA authority or under a waiver and it hopes to act quickly. Microsoft Corp is among the partners for a Kansas project.

Memphis Airport Authority Chief Executive Scott Brockman told Reuters that it had also been picked and that its partner FedEx Corp will use drones for inspection of aircraft at its hub in Tennessee as well as parts deliveries for aircraft and some package deliveries between the airport and other Memphis locations. Another partner is General Electric Co, he said.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said “we have to create a path forward” to ensure the safe integration of drones.

Earlier, the department said it has sent two proposed rules to the White House to regulate the increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

One of the new rules would allow drones to fly over people while the other would allow for remote identification and tracking of unmanned aircraft in flight. After both are formally proposed, it would take months or possibly more than a year before they are finalized.

Current rules prohibit nighttime drone flights or operations over people without a waiver from the FAA. The FAA has no requirements or voluntary standards for electrically broadcasting information to identify an unmanned aircraft.

The FAA has said regulations are necessary to protect the public and the National Airspace System from bad actors or errant hobbyists. Several incidents around major airports have involved drones getting close to aircraft.

The wide interest in the U.S. initiative, launched by President Donald Trump last year, underscores the desire of a broad range of companies to have a say in how the fledgling industry is regulated and ultimately win authority to operate drones for purposes ranging from package delivery to crop inspection.