The LIFT Act of 2025 requires the Secretary of Transportation to move quickly to expand routine Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), deploy AI tools to speed approval of Part 107 waivers, and stand up an eVTOL integration pilot program offering grants to state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments. It also directs the FAA to establish safety metrics, identify regulatory barriers, examine international requirements for UAS over the high seas, and prioritize U.S.-manufactured systems in integration.
This bill compresses agency timelines (some as short as 30 days), embeds AI into waiver review, and creates a three-year, data-driven pilot pathway for advanced air mobility. For regulators, manufacturers, local governments, and companies planning commercial drone or eVTOL operations, the Act changes the pace and practical pathway for getting from experimental projects to routine operations while raising implementation, oversight, and trade-compliance issues the agencies will need to resolve.
At a Glance
What It Does
Directs the Department of Transportation to issue a proposed BVLOS rule within 30 days and a final rule within six months; requires safety metrics and a 180‑day analysis of remaining regulatory barriers; mandates FAA deployment of AI tools for Part 107 waiver review within 120 days; establishes an eVTOL pilot grant program with specific deadlines and reporting; and instructs prioritization of U.S.-made UAS to the maximum extent permitted by law.
Who It Affects
Impacts the FAA and Department of Transportation operations and staffing, UAS and eVTOL manufacturers (with explicit preference for U.S.-based firms), state/local/Tribal/territorial governments applying for pilot grants, private-sector eVTOL partners, and operators who currently rely on Part 107 waivers.
Why It Matters
The Act accelerates regulatory pathways that have been a bottleneck for commercial drones and advanced air mobility, potentially unlocking medical logistics, cargo, and passenger eVTOL services—while forcing rapid agency rulemaking, introducing AI into safety decisions, and creating trade and international-law tensions about fleet sourcing and high-seas operations.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill orders the Secretary of Transportation to move fast: within 30 days the Department must publish a proposed rule to enable routine BVLOS UAS operations and produce a final rule within six months. At the same time, the FAA must define measurable safety metrics immediately and, within 180 days, map remaining regulatory barriers and deliver recommendations to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for either regulatory fixes or legislative steps.
Those two elements together are designed to convert experimental and waiver-based BVLOS flights into routine, rule-based operations.
On waiver processing, the Act requires the FAA to begin deploying artificial intelligence tools within 120 days to assist Part 107 waiver reviews. The prescribed AI capabilities include risk- and performance-based evaluation, precedent-matching and suggested mitigations, and flagging operation categories suitable for rulemaking instead of case-by-case waivers.
The bill also explicitly requires use consistent with OMB guidance on federal AI use (M–25–21), bringing transparency, governance, and documentation requirements into play for FAA implementations.The bill directs the Secretary and OSTP to create an eVTOL integration pilot program that gives grants to subnational governments to accelerate safe eVTOL deployments. The statute sets a fast timeline for solicitations and selections: an RFP within 90 days, proposal submission windows of 90 days, project selections within 180 days of the RFP, and pilot operations expected to begin quickly after agreements are signed.
Agreements must include goals, regulatory needs, timelines, data- sharing, and responsibilities; the program sunsets three years after the first pilot becomes operational unless extended.Two cross-cutting policy priorities finish the bill. First, the Department must examine how UAS could operate over the high seas without being treated as manned international flights under the Chicago Convention, report barriers, and recommend legislative fixes.
Second, the Secretary must prioritize integrating UAS manufactured in the United States into the national airspace to the maximum extent allowed by law—an explicit industrial policy signal that will influence procurement, project selection, and market dynamics for manufacturers and operators.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill forces a proposed BVLOS rule within 30 days of enactment and a final rule within six months—an unusually accelerated federal rulemaking timetable.
The FAA must deploy AI tools to assist Part 107 waiver reviews within 120 days; those tools must support risk-based evaluations, identify similar precedents and mitigation measures, and flag operation categories for potential rulemaking.
Within 30 days the Secretary must set safety metrics for BVLOS; within 180 days the Department must identify additional regulatory barriers and send recommendations to OSTP addressing fixes and possible legislative action.
The eVTOL pilot program requires an RFP within 90 days, 90-day proposal submissions, selections within 180 days of the RFP, and pilot operations to begin shortly after agreements—grants will prioritize projects using U.S.-based eVTOL developers and require private-sector partners.
The Secretary must prioritize integrating U.S.-manufactured unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace to the maximum extent permitted by law, explicitly favoring domestic production.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Declares the Act's public name: the Local Innovation for Flight Technologies Act of 2025 (LIFT Act of 2025). This is purely titular but signals the bill's focus on accelerating local and commercial flight technologies and frames subsequent programmatic language.
Definitions
Adopts existing statutory definitions by reference, specifically the terms 'appropriate committees of Congress' and 'unmanned aircraft system' as defined in 49 U.S.C. § 44801. Relying on established definitions keeps the Act tightly connected to existing FAA statutory language and reduces semantic ambiguity for implementation.
Expand BVLOS operations and safety metrics
Directs the Secretary to issue a proposed BVLOS rule within 30 days and a final rule within six months, and to establish safety metrics immediately. Practically, agencies must accelerate data collection, risk modeling, and stakeholder notice-and-comment processes. The requirement to report additional regulatory barriers to OSTP within 180 days means the Department must pair regulatory drafting with an implementation roadmap identifying statutory or policy changes needed to scale BVLOS.
Examine international requirements for high-seas UAS operations
Instructs the Department to analyze whether UAS flying over the high seas in U.S.-controlled flight information regions can operate without being treated under rules for manned international navigation (as per the Chicago Convention), identify barriers, and submit findings plus legislative recommendations to appropriate congressional committees. This requires legal analysis of ICAO conventions, the Chicago Convention, and practical coordination with State and DOT legal teams—any recommendation could raise treaty- conformity or trade implications.
Deploy AI for Part 107 waiver reviews
Mandates FAA deployment of AI tools within 120 days to assist and expedite Part 107 waiver reviews, with explicit functional requirements: performance- and risk-based evaluation, precedent identification with mitigation recommendations, and surfacing candidate operation categories ripe for rulemaking. The section also directs the FAA to examine use of these AI tools for exemption petitions under 49 U.S.C. § 44807 and requires compliance with OMB AI guidance (M–25–21), imposing governance, documentation, and risk- management constraints on implementation.
Create eVTOL integration pilot program
Establishes a grant program run by DOT in coordination with OSTP to fund state/local/Tribal/territorial projects that accelerate eVTOL operations. The statute sets firm schedule milestones—RFP within 90 days, proposals due within 90 days of the RFP, selections within 180 days—and requires private-sector partners. Agreements must include project goals, regulatory needs, timelines, data-sharing, and responsibilities; the program sunsets three years after the first pilot is operational unless extended. Annual and initial implementation reports to OSTP and Congress are required, tying pilot findings to regulatory development.
Priority for U.S.-manufactured UAS
Directs the Secretary to 'prioritize' integration of U.S.-manufactured UAS into the national airspace over foreign-made systems 'to the maximum extent permitted by law.' This is an explicit domestic-industry preference that will shape procurement, grant awards, and integration timelines but must be reconciled with federal procurement statutes and international trade obligations.
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Explore Transportation in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- U.S.-based eVTOL and UAS manufacturers — the bill explicitly favors domestic producers in pilot selection and integration priority, increasing contracting and market-access advantages for firms headquartered in the United States.
- State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments — eligible for grants and public-private partnerships that can accelerate local economic development, medevac, cargo, and rural access projects with federal support and regulatory attention.
- Commercial operators and logistics/medical services — routine BVLOS and eVTOL pathways reduce reliance on case-by-case waivers, lowering regulatory friction for businesses offering scheduled drone deliveries, medical transports, and advanced air mobility services.
- OSTP and agencies seeking R&D outcomes — required reports and data-sharing provisions create a structured flow of operational and safety data that agencies can use to inform broader national technology and infrastructure planning.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal agencies, particularly the FAA — compressed timelines and AI deployment will require staff time, technical integration, and potentially new contracting and oversight resources not funded in the text.
- Foreign UAS and eVTOL manufacturers — the domestic-priority language and pilot selection criteria disadvantage non-U.S. suppliers, possibly narrowing technology choices for operators.
- Local communities and municipal planners — rapid pilot selection and operational timelines may press local governments to make land-use, noise, and public-safety decisions on compressed schedules and with limited time for public engagement.
- Operators and manufacturers lacking data governance frameworks — the bill mandates data-sharing and safety reporting; private partners will need to invest in data systems, cybersecurity, and compliance to participate in pilot projects.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The Act forces a trade-off between speed and control: it accelerates regulatory and technological adoption to secure commercial, economic, and strategic advantages, but doing so risks compromising thorough safety review, adequate agency resourcing, clear AI governance, and compliance with procurement and international legal obligations—choices that pit rapid commercialization against methodical risk mitigation.
The bill front-loads aggressive deadlines (30 days for a proposed rule, 120 days for AI deployment, 90–180 day windows for pilot procurement) that assume existing FAA capacity and mature technical standards. If the agency lacks funding or personnel, those deadlines could force shortcuts in notice-and-comment, risk modeling, or stakeholder engagement, raising legal and safety risks.
Embedding AI into waiver review promises speed but creates novel governance and liability questions: what level of human oversight is required, how will the FAA document AI recommendations for administrative-record and appeals purposes, and how will the agency validate models against rare safety events? Requiring adherence to OMB AI guidance helps, but implementation detail—model transparency, audit logs, false-positive/negative handling, and bias mitigation—remains unresolved.
The domestic-priority directive and the high-seas analysis both create trade and treaty friction points: prioritizing U.S.-made systems may conflict with procurement and trade obligations, while seeking exemptions from Chicago Convention rules for UAS over the high seas will require careful legal work and international negotiation.
Finally, the eVTOL pilot program will produce useful operational data but also concentrates risk: compressed project schedules and an early three-year sunset may favor demonstrable short-term results over careful long-term integration planning. The bill requires data-sharing with multiple federal agencies but does not specify funding for cybersecurity, privacy protections, or liability frameworks for commercial operations—important gaps a practitioner should flag during implementation planning.
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