Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
‹ Back to IndustriesTransportation

How Local Governments are Integrating UAVs into One of the Nations Busiest Airspaces

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is home to one of the busiest airports in the country. Lots of planes in the sky means a massive logistical headache for integrating drones into the airspace. But everything’s bigger in Texas, even the gumption to find solutions to difficult challenges; now, a coalition of local governments wants to…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Transportation teams put it to work with Partner & Channel Enablement.

Share
How Local Governments are Integrating UAVs into One of the Nations Busiest Airspaces

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Transportation?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Transportation coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is home to one of the busiest airports in the country. Lots of planes in the sky means a massive logistical headache for integrating drones into the airspace. But everything’s bigger in Texas, even the gumption to find solutions to difficult challenges; now, a coalition of local governments wants to take on that UAV airspace challenge for DFW.

Ernest Huffman, founder of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), created a dedicated voluntary association of local governments to assist in regional planning for all modes of transportation, including the safe integration of UAS operations, from the smaller package delivery drones all the way up to automated air mobility taxis into the busy DFW airspace.

The group is comprised of over 300 members from various levels of government, private aviation and academia.

The group’s founder joined us on MarketScale to discuss how the organization entered into an agreement with NASA, as well as to discuss their plans to launch beyond visual line of sight operations as a part of larger smart city initiatives.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Transportation starts with a company putting its fleet managers, logistics engineers, and safety leads on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Fleet and logistics buyers compare quietly, and your operators become the evidence that settles it.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

Follow Transportation Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Transportation: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Transportation buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Transportation expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your fleet managers, logistics engineers, and safety leads into the articles, video, and social content Transportation buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Transportation Insights

Geely says a European R&D office alone can’t easily replicate its 13-year engineering setup

Geely says a European R&D office alone can’t easily replicate its 13-year engineering setup

Geely says its 13-year China-Europe engineering system, built with Volvo through CMA, is hard to replicate just by opening a European R&D office. Engineer Kennet Pettersson says he has worked on more than twice as many platforms in 13 years at Geely as in 15 years at Saab and Volvo. Chery says it plans a UK R&D center this year.

  • 01A useful benchmark for cross-border engineering: one Geely chief engineer completed three platforms in 15 years at Saab and Volvo, then more than double that in 13 years inside the Geely-Volvo system.
  • 02The two engineering cultures pull in opposite directions, European teams designing for needs five to 10 years out and Chinese teams building for now and changing fast, and Geely's stated answer is a negotiated middle, not a winner.
  • 03Chinese companies have invested in more than 130 European parts makers since the mid-2000s, per Rhodium via the Financial Times, so the question for a European supplier is no longer whether Chinese OEMs arrive but where their engineering decisions get made.

Sep 19, 2026

Dot Transportation is testing software that predicts driver fatigue before a shift starts

Dot Transportation is testing software that predicts driver fatigue before a shift starts

Dot Transportation is piloting Fatigue Science’s Readi platform, which gives drivers hour-by-hour fatigue predictions before a shift, FleetOwner reported Sept. 16, 2026. The approach is positioned as a pre-shift forecast that could be used in planning rather than reacting to in-cab drowsiness alerts once the truck is moving. The pilot comes as ATRI launches benefit-cost research on hours-of-service and ELD rules.

  • 01A fatigue forecast delivered before dispatch is a planning input; an in-cab drowsiness alert arrives after the risk is already on the road. That timing difference is the feature to evaluate in any predictive fatigue pilot.
  • 02Research in Production and Operations Management found ELD mandates closed an hours-of-service compliance gap between drivers, a reminder that logged hours and actual alertness are different measurements.
  • 03Two signals to watch: whether Dot Transportation publishes pilot results, and whether ATRI's new benefit-cost research on HOS and ELD rules changes how fleets justify fatigue tools beyond compliance.

Sep 18, 2026

International and PlusAI are building Level 4 trucks around NVIDIA's Thor chip

International and PlusAI are building Level 4 trucks around NVIDIA's Thor chip

International Motors and PlusAI are building factory-installed Level 4 trucks on NVIDIA's DRIVE AGX Hyperion platform and Thor chip, Fleet Owner reported. Nauto CEO Stefan Heck told Heavy Duty Trucking the harder job is proving safety across hundreds of billions of real miles. Early runs will stick to corridors like Interstate 10.

  • 01Even at Stefan Heck's top projection of 200,000 self-driving vehicles within two years, autonomous systems will still represent only a small fraction of the market for years compared to the roughly 12 million trucks operating in the US, according to Heavy Duty Trucking.
  • 02The sharper question to put to any Level 4 vendor is which corridors it can document as validated with real miles, since Heck argues simulation only covers scenarios engineers have already imagined.
  • 03Grote's 4SEE Digital Harness brings lamp-specific fault reporting and over-the-air updates to the trailer, a spec item fleets can write now regardless of when the tractor drives itself.

Sep 18, 2026

Explore More Transportation Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Transportation.

Browse Transportation Hub

For Transportation teams

See how Transportation teams use MarketScale →

Partner & Channel Enablement

Explore Channels

Industry news, analysis, and expert perspectives

Professional AV›Engineering & Construction›Education Technology›Healthcare›Energy›Software & Technology›Retail›Business Services›Industrial IoT›Sports & Entertainment›Transportation›Sciences›Building Management›Food & Beverage›Architecture & Design›Hospitality›Marketing Tech›
Keep exploring

More from Transportation

Transportation hubMore expert Transportation coverage.Explore →Partner & Channel EnablementArm your channel with content.Explore →MicrodronesMobility tech storytelling.Explore →State of B2B MarketingWhat is working in B2B marketing now.Explore →

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Transportation and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512