Interestingly, the UK Government and CAA seems to be going the other way - despite multiple high-profile incidents like Gatwick. Currently the UK requires VLOS, but with the need to enable autonomous drones and BVLOS in order to get the largest benefits from commercial drone use they are looking to enable BVLOS flights subject to some (quite sensible, IMHO) pre-conditions:
- Active transponders on the drone
- LAANC style pre-flight registration
- A centralised traffic management system to avoid collisions
- A suitable level of training and/or certification for the pilot/flight control system
Some of that is definitely a few years off but, even so, maybe the glass is half-full after all?
You're right, and of course it is happening in the US and Australia too, probably Canada has plans for Amazon, Ubereats, medical delivery services, etc to deliver autonomously by drone.
We have trials here for at least one of those now.
Personally I like the idea of the Firehouse arc 2 strobes, and am getting some very soon.
They should help when taking eyes away from the AC to the monitor etc briefly, then looking back.
But I won't be wanting them for flying right out to the supposed distances you CAN still see them, some have cited over a mile (1.6km) or more.
I believe the spirit of VLOS is if there is some other manned AC coming towards your drone that there could be a risk of collision, helicopters and small aircraft being the main concern, then you can actually see them in relative terms to your drone.
If strobes can allow vision for a km or so, then you can't really know what's coming, you haven't got a 360 degree view from you little camera and view on the device screen.
You might be lucky and facing the right way, but you know what that view is like, an AC travelling at the speeds they can will be on you before you can see it to take action.
VLOS for me is still going to be the usual few hundred metres out to maybe 500m.