AUSTIN, Texas—Percepto, which provides automated drone-in-a-box technology, announced Nov. 7 the Federal Aviation Administration granted it a nationwide waiver for beyond visual line of sight operations.

Percepto’s automated technology is used by electric utilities, oil and gas, solar power stations and mining operations, and the waiver allows customers whose sites comply with the waiver’s criteria to use remotely operated drones.

Customers can immediately gain actionable insights with Percepto’s drone-in-a-box for inspection and monitoring, and benefit from Percepto’s ability to centrally control drone-in-a-box fleets at multiple sites, the company said.

“We are very excited by the possibilities this national BVLOS waiver presents to our operations partners,” Tim Shanfelt, operations enablement leader at Koch Ag and Energy Solutions LLC, said in a Percepto release. “This change helps us extract more value from an already important operations system. Percepto’s national BVLOS waiver will enable expansion of our automated drone inspection and monitoring without the wait for site specific FAA approvals.”

Percepto co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Ariel Avitan said, “obtaining this waiver marks a significant milestone in our longstanding vision to provide remote inspections and operations at industrial facilities, particularly at isolated locations, with much greater efficiency and safety. Percepto makes it easier than ever for governments and businesses across the U.S. to implement automated drone operations, and unleash the true potential of AI-powered inspections.”