For seemingly years now, getting your goods delivered by drone has been a reality that's always just around the corner. Yet the long-promised technology has been slow to take off in the United States. More than six years after the Federal Aviation Administration approved commercial home deliveries with drones, the service mostly has been confined to a few suburbs and rural areas. That could soon change. The FAA proposed a new rule last week that would make it easier for companies to fly drones outside of an operator’s line of sight and therefore over longer distances. A handful of companies do that now, but they had to obtain waivers and certification as an air carrier to deliver packages. Today on AirTalk, Larry speaks with Politico reporter Sam Ogozalekand principal research scientist and director of research of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics Matthias Winkenbach about whether commercial drone usage is about to take off.

For seemingly years now, getting your goods delivered by drone has been a reality that's always just around the corner. Yet <a href="https://apnews.com/article/e0fcf74b9a9d46d1a7c57463cf6f668c">the long-promised technology</a> has been slow to take off in the United States. More than six years after the Federal Aviation Administration approved <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-b907fabc2c5a4718b7057eb9f9f12525">commercial home deliveries</a> with drones, the service mostly has been confined to a few suburbs and rural areas. That could soon change. The FAA <a href="https://apnews.com/article/drones-trump-duffy-line-of-sight-rule-bdbc54ca3b8ef2ead9ccfc62f3762f4c">proposed a new rule</a> last week that would make it easier for companies to fly drones outside of an operator&rsquo;s line of sight and therefore over longer distances. A handful of companies do that now, but they had to obtain waivers and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nc-state-wire-raleigh-north-carolina-transportation-technology-tx-state-wire-6fc2218e436d4ee1a8b0cac0d0a5eab2">certification as an air carrier</a> to deliver packages. Today on AirTalk, Larry speaks with Politico reporter <a href="https://www.politico.com/staff/sam-ogozalek">Sam Ogozalek</a> and principal research scientist and director of research of the MIT Center for Transportation &amp; Logistics <a href="https://ctl.mit.edu/about/bio/matthias-winkenbach">Matthias Winkenbach</a> about whether commercial drone usage is about to take off.

Join Larry Mantle weekdays for lively and in-depth discussions of Los Angeles and Southern California news, politics, science, entertainment, the arts and more. More AirTalk at www.kpcc.org.

Join Larry Mantle weekdays for lively and in-depth discussions of Los Angeles and Southern California news, politics, science, entertainment, the arts and more. More AirTalk at www.kpcc.org.

Lively and in-depth discussions of city news, politics, science, entertainment, the arts, and more.

AirTalk

Join Larry Mantle weekdays for lively and in-depth discussions of Los Angeles and Southern California news, politics, science, entertainment, the arts and more.

Join Larry Mantle weekdays for lively and in-depth discussions of Los Angeles and Southern California news, politics, science, entertainment, the arts and more.