美国或许正迈向一个无人机遍地的未来。
内容总结：
美国正加速迈向无人机普及化时代。美国联邦航空管理局即将放宽无人机超视距飞行限制，此举在提升商业效率的同时，也引发公民自由过度监控的担忧。
目前美国无人机操作需申请视距外飞行豁免，警方通过科技公司Flock Safety仅需两周即可获准，而企业用户则需等待60至90天。随着亚马逊等电商推动无人机配送、医疗机构急需运输移植器官，业界长期呼吁简化审批流程。今年8月，美国联邦航空管理局正式提出新规草案，将快递运输、农业监测、警务执法等领域纳入视距外飞行许可范围。
该政策转变获得无人机产业拥护，却令民权组织深感不安。美国公民自由联盟资深政策分析师杰伊·斯坦利警告："航空管理局即将大规模开放空域，数万架无人机将获得超视距飞行权限，却完全缺乏隐私保护条款。"该组织指出，无人机群可能对公众集会进行持续性监控，已有多地警方使用Flock公司无人机追踪商铺嫌疑人至停车场所的实例。
弗吉尼亚州诺福克市已就此类执法行为提起联邦诉讼，指控其未经许可大规模收集公民隐私数据。根据程序，新规草案正面向公众征求意见，最终版本将于2026年春季发布。这场关乎天空使用权与隐私保护权的博弈，正引发全美范围的政策讨论。
中文翻译：
美国正迈向无人机遍地的未来。联邦航空管理局即将放宽限制，允许无人机在操作者"视线范围外"飞行。
近日笔者报道了警用科技巨头弗洛克安全公司向私营部门出售无人机用于追踪商店窃贼的消息。该公司无人机业务负责人、前警察局长基思·考夫曼描绘了理想场景：家得宝超市的安保团队从屋顶放飞无人机跟踪盗窃嫌疑人至其车辆，无人机随后沿街追踪车辆，并将实时画面直接传输给警方。
这种设想自然引发了民权倡导者的警觉。他们指出这将扩大由警用无人机、车牌识别器等犯罪监控技术构成的监视体系，使执法部门能够在未经授权的情况下收集海量私人数据。弗洛克公司目前正在弗吉尼亚州诺福克市面临联邦诉讼，指控内容正是基于上述担忧。
无人机领域的特殊之处在于，其在美国的发展命运——未来数年你家上空将是宁静依旧还是充斥着送披萨、巡查路况或追捕嫌疑人的无人机嗡鸣——几乎完全取决于联邦航空管理局的一项法规。该法规规定了无人机的飞行空域和操作方式，且即将迎来修订。
目前操作无人机超越视线范围需获得联邦航空管理局的特批，此举旨在防范空中碰撞事故。自2018年起，该局开始为搜救、保险勘察、警方调查等场景颁发特许许可。在弗洛克公司协助下，警方仅需两周就能获得许可，而私营客户通常需等待60至90天。
多年来，无人机相关行业——从承诺送货上门的电商到争分夺秒运输移植器官的医疗企业——持续推动政府以更简便的"超视距飞行"审批替代特许制度。今年6月，特朗普总统在关于"美国无人机主导地位"的行政命令中响应了这一呼吁，联邦航空管理局遂于8月发布新规草案。
草案列出了允许超视距飞行的无人机应用范畴，包括包裹递送、农业作业、航空测绘及警务等公共事务。这些领域的操作者将更易获得飞行许可，活动范围也将显著扩大。
无人机企业与业余操作者视此为胜利，但美国公民自由联盟隐私与科技项目高级政策分析师杰伊·斯坦利指出："这是以牺牲公众隐私为代价的胜利。联邦航空管理局即将大幅开放空域，允许更多超视距飞行，却未配套任何隐私保护措施。"该组织警告称，无人机群将导致持续监控，包括对抗议和集会活动的监视，侵蚀公众对隐私的合理期待。
关于这项新规草案的意见征集将持续至10月6日。根据特朗普行政命令，联邦航空管理局须在2026年春季前发布最终版法规。
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英文来源：
The US may be heading toward a drone-filled future
The FAA is set to loosen rules to let people fly drones beyond their “line of sight."
On Thursday, I published a story about the police-tech giant Flock Safety selling its drones to the private sector to track shoplifters. Keith Kauffman, a former police chief who now leads Flock’s drone efforts, described the ideal scenario: A security team at a Home Depot, say, launches a drone from the roof that follows shoplifting suspects to their car. The drone tracks their car through the streets, transmitting its live video feed directly to the police.
It’s a vision that, unsurprisingly, alarms civil liberties advocates. They say it will expand the surveillance state created by police drones, license-plate readers, and other crime tech, which has allowed law enforcement to collect massive amounts of private data without warrants. Flock is in the middle of a federal lawsuit in Norfolk, Virginia, that alleges just that. Read the full story to learn more.
But the peculiar thing about the world of drones is that its fate in the US—whether the skies above your home in the coming years will be quiet, or abuzz with drones dropping off pizzas, inspecting potholes, or chasing shoplifting suspects—pretty much comes down to one rule. It’s a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation that stipulates where and how drones can be flown, and it is about to change.
Currently, you need a waiver from the FAA to fly a drone farther than you can see it. This is meant to protect the public and property from in-air collisions and accidents. In 2018, the FAA began granting these waivers for various scenarios, like search and rescues, insurance inspections, or police investigations. With Flock’s help, police departments can get waivers approved in just two weeks. The company’s private-sector customers generally have to wait 60 to 90 days.
For years, industries with a stake in drones—whether e-commerce companies promising doorstep delivery or medical transporters racing to move organs—have pushed the government to scrap the waiver system in favor of easier approval to fly beyond visual line of sight. In June, President Donald Trump echoed that call in an executive order for “American drone dominance,” and in August, the FAA released a new proposed rule.
The proposed rule lays out some broad categories for which drone operators are permitted to fly drones beyond their line of sight, including package delivery, agriculture, aerial surveying, and civic interest, which includes policing. Getting approval to fly beyond sight would become easier for operators from these categories, and would generally expand their range.
Drone companies, and amateur drone pilots, see it as a win. But it’s a win that comes at the expense of privacy for the rest of us, says Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project who served on the rule-making commission for the FAA.
“The FAA is about to open up the skies enormously, to a lot more [beyond visual line of sight] flights without any privacy protections,” he says. The ACLU has said that fleets of drones enable persistent surveillance, including of protests and gatherings, and impinge on the public’s expectations of privacy.
If you’ve got something to say about the FAA’s proposed rule, you can leave a public comment (they’re being accepted until October 6.) Trump’s executive order directs the FAA to release the final rule by spring 2026.
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
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