Drone News: FAA Updates; Drone Investment

FAA 333 exemptions for commercial use of drones has now surpassed 5,000.  As of April 27, 5,114 exemptions have been issued. Many of these are for construction, surveying and inspection (see breakdown below).  On other news, PrecisionHawk, a producer of autonomous surveying drone technology, has raised an additional $18 million in funding bringing its total to $30 million. Our recent drone survey included several contractors who deployed PrecisionHawk's DataMapper for pre-bid site surveys to compare actual conditions to construction documents. 

Breakdown of FAA333 exemptions by keyword as of April 27, 2016

Inspection - 1,985

Survey - 1,635

Construction - 875

Mapping - 691

Data collection - 594

Engineering - 303

Aerial photography - 3,420