AUSTIN, Texas—Percepto announced the Federal Aviation Administration granted the company a nationwide waiver to operate a full fleet of Percepto drones remotely by one operator.

While previous Percepto operations required one pilot to monitor and operate one drone, this new approval allows for commercial operation of up to 30 drones, simultaneously with one pilot, redefining drone automation and remote operations.

For heavy industry, namely oil and gas, utilities and other energy stakeholders, this significantly reduces operational expenses and increases operational efficiencies. With this approval, Percepto heavy industry customers can finally implement large-scale drone fleet inspections by safely, quickly and effortlessly scaling their drone programs. Moreover, it lowers costs for new entrants seeking to use drones to enhance their operations for the first time and encourages more market players to establish new drone programs, which is now more cost effective than ever.

This waiver builds on Percepto’s years of regulatory efforts, allowing for safe nationwide drone BVLOS operations with no humans on site or the need for expensive radars, using remote pre-flight checks, extensive automation, and now the ability to operate up to 30 systems simultaneously. It also comes as the last piece of the remote operations puzzle, alongside Percepto’s drone-in-a-box hardware and autonomous inspection software.

“For years, Percepto has been leading the remote inspection revolution—both on the regulatory and technology fronts,” said Percepto cofounder and chief commercial officer Ariel Avitan. “Simply put, with large-scale remote inspections we’ll see fewer large-scale safety and environmental failures across critical infrastructure.”

“Percepto is very grateful for the FAA’s approval of this waiver, the true holy grail, which was achieved through years of continued cooperation with the FAA,” said Neta Gliksman, Percepto vice president of policy and government affairs. “This is opening doors for critical inspection operations for our clients, expanding the possibilities and scale of autonomous inspection technology.”