During the last week of March, officials arrested 150 people in Georgia after an investigation revealed that they used drones to smuggle contraband including drugs, weapons and cell phones into prison facilities across the state. Also during that week, Hylio, a Texas-based drone manufacturer, successfully applied for an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow the use of “drone swarms” (fleets of drones) for agricultural purposes. On April 1, Ukrainian quadcopter drones armed with explosives blew up Russian grenade-launching robots. In addition to these examples illustrating some ways in which drones are being utilized, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming more capable with the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI). Last year, an autonomous AI drone developed by researchers at the University of Zurich beat top professional human drone racers. Until then, autonomous drones had taken twice as long as human-piloted drones to navigate a racetrack.
Drones’ lower cost and improved capabilities are driving adoption for many purposes in numerous fields, including the military, policing, product delivery and agriculture.