"When Uber angered the California Department of Motor Vehicles last year, it packed up and moved its self-driving cars to Arizona. This time, Uber should try to stay on the Federal Aviation Administration’s good side because it needs the FAA to approve its vehicles and pilots, said Bryant Walker Smith, a transportation tech scholar with Stanford Law School.
“It’s FAA’s way, or no way,” he said.
Smith said Uber’s plan seems feasible from a technology perspective. But paying pilots and maintaining the vehicles will be expensive, he said. And Uber has to figure out how to avoid low-flying obstacles like birds and drones."