Federal officials say they will allow operators to fly small drones over people and at night, potentially giving a boost to commercial use of the machines. Most drones will need to be equipped so they can be identified remotely by law enforcement officials. The final rules announced by the Federal Aviation Administration "get us closer to the day when we will more routinely see drone operations such as the delivery of packages," said FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson. Drones are the fastest-growing segment in all of transportation, with more than 1.7 million under registration, according to the Transportation Department. However, the widespread commercial use of the machines has developed far more slowly than many advocates expected.

Shortly after receiving final FAA approval for drone deliveries, Amazon already has a rival. Walmart announced that it will start a pilot program with drone company Flytrex to deliver groceries and other household essentials from its stores in Fayetteville, NC. Flytrex had previously received FAA approval for food deliveries in North Carolina. The pilot program will mostly be used to gather information for a future service, so the Fayetteville skies won't be filled with drones just yet. "The drones, which are controlled over the cloud using a smart and easy control dashboard, will help us gain valuable insight into the customer and associate experience -- from picking and packing to takeoff and delivery," said Walmart senior VP Tom Ward.

Routine drone deliveries to U.S. consumers are still years away, partly because the FAA needs to complete rules for remote identification of more than 400,000 drones currently registered for commercial operations, and issue separate rules permitting drones to fly regularly over populated areas. Despite the investments and interest in potential drone deliveries by startups as well as deep-pocketed early adapters such as Amazon, package deliveries won't proceed beyond limited trials in the U.S. until new federal regulations go into effect. Amazon has now joined United Parcel Service Inc. UPS 0.78% and Wing, a unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., GOOG -0.62% in gaining approval to operate unmanned air fleets in the U.S. for tests involving customer deliveries. Amazon has sought regulatory approval for a broader range of drones and over a larger geographic area than its competitors. The company said Monday that the approval from the FAA isn't tied to a specific drone model but operations of a fleet.

Amazon has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to operate its fleet of Prime Air drones in the US. The company can now use unmanned aircraft systems to deliver goods'beyond the visual line of sight of the operator' under a trial basis, CNBC reports. Amazon began testing its delivery drones in 2013, but has stumbled getting the service off the ground due to hardware and safety issues. The firm notes that it has since conducted a number of training deliveries and submitted evidence showing operations are safe to the public. Drone deliveries will first rollout in low populated areas and will only drop-off packages weighing five pounds or less.

For drone users, Hurricane Harvey is likely to be the event that propelled unmanned aircraft to become an integral part of government and corporate disaster-recovery efforts. In the first six days after the storm hit, the Federal Aviation Administration issued more than 40 separate authorizations for emergency drone activities above flood-ravaged Houston and surrounding areas. They ranged from inspecting roadways to checking railroad tracks to assessing the condition of water plants, oil refineries and power lines. That total climbed above 70 last Friday and topped 100 by Sunday, including some flights prohibited under routine circumstances, according to people familiar with the details. Industry officials said all of the operations--except for a handful flown by media outlets--were conducted in conjunction with, or on behalf of, local, state or federal agencies.

Disney has been trying to diversify its entertainment offerings for some time now. Two years back, the company applied for and was granted a patent for using drones to carry screens and pyrotechnics. Now, on Monday, Disney announced that it had been given permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use these drones. Disney drones, which would be programmable and semi-autonomous, will direct the formations such as displaying pixels in a giant TV screen formation in the sky. The approval from FAA, which granted Disney a waiver from existing laws controlling drone movement, is not permanent and can be revoked at anytime. It is valid for a period of four years and the company must use authorized remote pilots and prevent the drones from flying uncontrolled over guest-occupied areas.