Autel Fights Back Against the FCC, Michigan Drone Bills Stall, and a Thermal Drone Saves a Life

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. I have three stories for you this week: Autel is fighting back against the FCC’s Covered List, the Michigan House passed two drone procurement bills while stalling on airspace restrictions, and a drones-for-good story where a thermal drone saved a life in freezing temperatures. Let’s get to it.

Autel Fights Back Against the FCC

First up this week, Autel Robotics has filed a reply with the FCC, arguing that their addition to the Covered List is based on secret evidence and allegations that were actually aimed at DJI. Autel claims they were never given a chance to see the classified material used against them, which they argue violates their Fifth Amendment right to due process.

What’s really interesting here is that Autel is finally putting their technical operations on the public record. They stated under oath that their flight data is stored locally by default and is not automatically uploaded to company servers. They also specified that their drone communications and stored data use AES-128 or AES-256 encryption, and that no third party has access to their software. This is one that I’ll be watching closely.

Michigan House Passes Two Drone Bills

Next up, let’s talk about some state-level regulations. The Michigan House just passed two out of the 15 bills in the SHIELD Michigan drone package. House Bills 5329 and 5331 both focus on state procurement. They basically stop state agencies from using state funds to buy drones from companies on the federal concern lists, like the DoD’s 1260H list.

But the real story here for you as a Part 107 or recreational pilot is the 13 other bills that didn’t pass. Those were the bills that had us really worried about federal preemption. They included things like civil penalties for flying over critical infrastructure, giving police and authorities the ability to shoot down or disable drones, and even a mandatory state-run geofencing app.

Seeing these 13 bills stall in the House is a huge win for the drone industry. And there’s still time to fight the other two, as these bills now go on to the Senate for consideration. If you’re in Michigan, make your voice heard by reaching out to your state senator!

Thermal Drone Saves a Life

Last up, the Corman Park Police Service in Saskatchewan, Canada, used their DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise to save a man’s life in some pretty brutal conditions. Officers were looking for an intoxicated man in minus 20 degrees Celsius — or minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit — weather.

The officers deployed their Mavic 3T and were able to pick up the man’s heat signature inside a roadside dumpster. They were able to get to him before hypothermia set in. Great job to the Corman Park Police Service for this use of drones!

That’s it for this week. For more weekly drone news, subscribe to the Pilot Institute YouTube channel, and you can find all of my articles on my DroneXL author page.