Nevada Becomes the First State to Test Fully Automated Passenger DronesBy James Holbrooks Ehang, Inc., unveiled its prototype Ehang 184 drone at this years Consumer Electronics Show in January. Thats where Mark Barker, business director for the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems the state-sponsored nonprofit group that approved Ehangs request first encountered the vehicle. It caught everybodys attention, Barker told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Since then, Nevada officials and Ehang representatives have been working toward a partnership. Now, with official government approval to test within the state, Barker and his associates at the institute can help the Chinese company achieve accreditation under Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) guidelines. We will help them submit necessary test results and reports to the FAA and all that kind of stuff, Barker said. Its a big deal to Ehang and its a big deal for NIAS and the state of Nevada because we will be helping them to test and validate their system. Compact and lightweight theEhang 184 is only four feet tall and weighs under 450 lbs the vehicle would target short- to medium-range transportation needs for single passengers at a time. Governmental drone regulation has proved tricky, as officials try to balance the benefits of what the growing commercial industry can offer against the inherentdangers of this largely untested technology. But many see bright days ahead for the future of commercial drone manufacturers. Passenger drones have huge potential, Dr. Mirko Kovac, director of the Aerial Robotics Lab at Imperial College London,told the BBC. They can decrease congestion, offer flights in challenging environments and in developing countries where the road infrastructure is not as developed. While acknowledging that, currently, people are afraid of drones most notably due to UAVs fast becoming an icon of military combat Dr. Kovac feels those fears will eventually be put aside. I think society will overcome this once the technology is more proven, he told the BBC. As for Ehangs choice of Nevada as their testing ground, that decision makes perfect sense. The state has long been lobbying to bring what it sees as an industry on the rise within its borders. Citing a report by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), a 2015article by Nevada Business magazine claimed that Integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the U.S. would create more than 100,000 jobs and have an economic impact of $82 billion nationally by 2025. Tom Wilczek, of the Nevada Governors Office of Economic Development, sees an opportunity. Even if we only see 10 percent or only capture 10 percent of the market, thats $9 billion, he said of AUVSIs numbers. And the state appears ready to accommodate. Already, Nevada is one of only six sites FAA-authorized to conduct trial research on UAVs. And more and more, universities and private nonprofits are working with state lawmakers to hammer out thebest way to cultivate what signs suggest could soon be a booming industry. Thats whats really exciting about it, University of Nevada-Renos Warren Rapptold the Nevada Appeal back in January. Its a whole new chapter for Nevada. This article (Nevada Becomes the First State to Test Fully-Automated, Passenger Drones) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to James Holbrooks and UndergroundReporter.org. If you spot a typo, please email the error and the name of the article to undergroundreporter2016@gmail.com. Image credit: Flickr/ETC-USC I cant wait to get up in the air with absolutely no control over my situation in a Chinese-manufactured product. The robots are taking everyones jobs Article mentions nothing about noise pollution but this is going to generate an incredibly din . . . Imagine only ten of these in a square kilometre taking off or landing around built up areas. This will be like sirens coming and going overhead. 