[20180723]IN10934_飞车和无人机对低空空域的管理和管制构成政策挑战.pdf

CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Flying Cars and Drones Pose Policy Challenges for Managing and Regulating Low-Altitude Airspace Bart Elias Specialist in Aviation Policy July 23, 2018 For more than half a century, “flying car” concepts have graced the covers of Popular Science magazine, have been featured in futuristic Hollywood sci-fi movies, and, of course, have hauled that famous space-age cartoon family, the Jetsons. Until recently, though, small hovercraft and drone-like air taxis existed only as prototype concepts and amateur-built curios. Recent advances in aerospace design and propulsion, as well as in computer control and autonomous systems, are raising the prospect that flying cars may soon become a reality. Development and marketing efforts are bringing to the fore new policy and regulatory challenges regarding the control of low-altitude airspace, safety, noise, privacy, and landowner rights. They also are raising new questions about the appropriate roles of federal, state, and local authorities in regulating and managing these operations. While Massachusetts-based Terrafugia has been working for more than a decade to develop