Beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)

One of the biggest hurdles for drone expansion in America is simple: seeing where they are in the sky. That’s especially true as drones begin flying farther, longer, and beyond the pilot’s direct line of sight. Now, SiFly Aviation says it has taken a meaningful step toward solving that problem through a new partnership with ADS-B Exchange.

UK drone solutions provider Coptrz is teaming up with Amsterdam-based drone maker Avy for emergency services and defense sectors. The deal is designed to unlock long-endurance, Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations — something governments worldwide are racing to scale.

Sphere is tightening its grip on autonomous drone deployments with a set of practical upgrades to its HubT platform, but the biggest shift is how the system is now built.

When Europe’s drone rules changed in recent years, manufacturers had to rethink not just hardware, but compliance. Under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) framework, drones are assigned C-class labels (C0 through C6), each tied to specific operational privileges and limits in the Open and Specific categories. Now, Swiss drone manufacturer Wingtra says its latest mapping platform, WingtraRAY, has secured both C3 and C6 certification, potentially expanding how surveyors operate across Europe.

Flying drones beyond visual line of sight is one thing. Doing it repeatedly, with multiple aircraft, across one of the UK’s busiest and most tightly controlled airspaces, is something else entirely. And that’s exactly what Skylift UAV has pulled off.

The mining industry may be thousands of feet below ground, but right now, it’s having a sky-high moment. DJI Enterprise has released a new white paper designed to help mining companies take a major leap forward: transitioning from manual drone flights to a fully automated BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) drone program powered by the DJI Dock.

It just got a lot easier for drones in Australia to go the distance, literally. Sphere Drones has earned approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to operate under the Broad Area BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) Self-Assessment framework, meaning the company can now decide for itself where it’s safe to fly drones beyond a pilot’s line of sight.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have launched investigations after two Amazon Prime Air drones crashed into a construction crane in Arizona this week — an accident that briefly grounded the company’s ambitious drone delivery program before operations resumed Friday.

If you fly a DJI drone in the United States for professional purposes, buckle up: the Federal Aviation Administration’s new draft rule, FAA Part 108, could dramatically alter the way you operate. On paper, Part 108 is meant to finally normalize routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights at scale, a move many in the drone industry have been waiting for years. But as written, it could shut out much of the existing DJI fleet, or any other non-US-made drone that American pilots actually use every day.

Silicon Valley drone startup SiFly has officially claimed a Guinness World Record after flying its Q12 drone for more than three hours — nearly an hour longer than the previous record. The groundbreaking flight took place on July 26 at Amaral Ranches in California’s Salinas Valley, witnessed by eight official observers, including Apple Distinguished Engineer Paul Baker and NASA Ames Research Aerospace Engineer Chris Silva.

FlytBase is hitting the fast lane of drone autonomy with an ambitious plan: 14 major product updates unveiled over 14 straight days. The California-based software company announced the initiative on August 18, calling it “moving at AI speed.”

Flytrex just got the go-ahead from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), making it only the fourth US company to earn this coveted approval — joining Wing (Google), Amazon, and Zipline.

In a landmark move that could reshape the skies, the US Department of Transportation, under Secretary Sean P. Duffy, has proposed a sweeping new rule that would finally normalize Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations — a long-awaited milestone for the commercial drone industry. The draft rule, introduced as Part 108, is being hailed as a transformative framework that will allow drones to operate beyond the operator’s visual range without the need for individual waivers.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted DroneDeploy a nationwide waiver for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations, allowing the company to oversee large-scale construction projects remotely. Expectedly, the use of autonomous drones for monitoring critical infrastructure across the US can go up significantly.

California’s Elk Grove Police Department (EGPD) is officially soaring to new heights — literally. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted EGPD a groundbreaking Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) waiver, making them the first law enforcement agency in the US to fly drones at 400 feet across an entire city — without human spotters.

Censys Technologies is taking drone operations to the next level with the launch of Sentaero 6, a cutting-edge system designed to push Over the Horizon Beyond Visual Line of Sight (OTH BVLOS) operations forward. Engineered with direct customer feedback and built with regulatory advancements in mind, this American-made drone is designed for inspections, mapping, and surveying tasks.

Imagine a world where a single fleet of drones can patrol urban waterways, rescue struggling swimmers, and even deliver your lunch — all without a human pilot at the controls. That future is here, thanks to A2Z Drone Delivery.

Starting this fall, Canada will embrace groundbreaking updates to its drone regulations, ushering in a new era for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. These changes mark a departure from the labor-intensive, case-by-case approval process previously required by Transport Canada, paving the way for greater accessibility to low-risk BVLOS flights across the country.

Propeller Drones, an Israel-based drone service provider, has secured a $7 million contract with the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to inspect electrical infrastructure using drones equipped with beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) capabilities. This collaboration, supported by cutting-edge Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) technology from Airwayz, marks the first government approval for pre-approved BVLOS operations in Israel.

Drone logistics specialist A2Z Drone Delivery has unveiled a new autonomous dock solution and a companion aircraft to support multiple simultaneous drone services. The new A2Z AirDock system enables drones to move between docks, automatically recharge, and pick up or deliver packages.

An Event38 employee shared on LinkedIn a tease of an upcoming addition to its E455 drones, SpaceX’s Starlink internet. This use would be linked to its BVLOS variant and would allow higher data rates over long distances with low latency and high reliability.