Defining BVLOS: How AUVSI Members Are Shaping the Future of Flight

March 5, 2026

For more than a decade, the UAS industry has worked toward one critical milestone: enabling Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations at scale. Without BVLOS, the full promise of uncrewed aviation, from infrastructure inspection and emergency response to advanced logistics and future air mobility, simply cannot be realized.

That’s why the FAA’s BVLOS rulemaking represents one of the most consequential regulatory moments the industry has faced.

Progress to get to this point has taken years already. AUVSI served on the FAA’s BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC), which delivered its recommendations in 2022, helping establish the foundation for the rulemaking now underway. The FAA’s BVLOS NPRM released in 2025 and the recent reopening of comments focused on electronic conspicuity and right-of-way rules highlight the critical policy and regulatory decisions shaping how new aircraft integrate into shared airspace. These discussions, from electronic conspicuity and detect-and-avoid frameworks to how drones and crewed aircraft share low-altitude airspace, will ultimately determine how scalable BVLOS operations become scalable across the United States.

This is exactly where AUVSI and its members make a difference.

From shaping ARC recommendations to publishing early analysis of the NPRM and submitting detailed, member-informed comments on both the original proposal and the reopened docket, AUVSI has helped ensure that real-world operational expertise informs smart, scalable regulation.

Because policy shifts like this don’t happen overnight. They are the result of sustained collaboration between operators, manufacturers, regulators, and public-safety leaders working together over years to build the frameworks that allow autonomy to scale safely. And right now, we are at a critical moment as the FAA works toward finalizing the rule that will define BVLOS operations for years to come.

March is AUVSI’s inaugural Membership Month giving us an opportunity to recognize the organizations already helping drive this progress and to invite others to align with the work shaping the future of autonomy. While BVLOS is one example, this kind of engagement is happening across the entire autonomy ecosystem from aviation and maritime systems to ground robotics, defense platforms, and industrial automation. The organizations engaged today are helping define the policy, standards, and operational frameworks that will govern how autonomous technologies scale across sectors.

Join the coalition shaping what comes next: