无人机销量即将疯涨

未来很可能会有更多无人机在空中轰鸣。

美国联邦航空管理局最新发布的报告预计，与今年的250万架相比，2020年的无人机销量将飙升至700万架。

该机构表示，无人机爱好者贡献的销量将从2016年的190万架提高到2020年的430万架，而商用无人机的销量则会增长三倍以上，从60万架提高到270万架。

联邦航空管理局认为，商用无人机将在2017年出现重大转机，届时，它将会被应用到诸如搜索输电线、为保险公司检查屋顶等各个方面。商用无人机的销量预计将达到250万架，而在此之后的几年里，它的销量只会略微增长。

目前，各公司在使用商用无人机之前，必须获得联邦航空管理局的许可。一些公司和无人机的游说团抱怨称：无人机之所以没有在美国迅速发展，部分原因就在于这种管制。

正在起草的新规定旨在让商用无人机的使用流程化。联邦航空管理局的报告表示，这些条例将于春季末出台。

自3月起，联邦航空管理局已经向各公司授予了超过3000份无人机相关的许可。

联邦航空管理局的报告中还预计，在管制结束后，无人机应用在众多领域。其中，最大的应用领域是工业安全检测，随后是房地产和相关的空中摄影、农业、保险和政府。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

The future will likely include a lot more drones buzzing overhead.

Drone sales are expected to grow from 2.5 million this year to 7 million in 2020, according to reportreleased this week by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Hobbyist sales will more than double from 1.9 million drones in 2016 to 4.3 million in 2020, the agency said. Meanwhile, business sales will triple over the period from 600,000 to 2.7 million.

The FAA believes that 2017 will be the big turning point in drone adoption by businesses, which use them for everything from scanning power lines to inspecting rooftops for insurance companies. Commercial sales are expected to reach 2.5 million, after which sales will increase only slightly for the next few years.

Currently, companies must obtain FAA certification to fly drones for business purposes. Some businesses and drone lobbying groups have grumbled that the regulation is partly to blame for preventing the drone industry from taking off in the United States.

New rules are in the works that are aimed at streamlining the process for businesses. They are expected to be completed by the later this Spring, the FAA report said.

As of March, the FAA has granted over 3,000 drone-related certifications to businesses.

The FAA report also shows the markets that the administrations expects will be big users of drones after the regulations are finalized. Industrial inspections will be the biggest use, the agency said, followed by real estate and related aerial photography, agriculture, insurance, and government.