Commercial UAV Expo has rolled into Caesars Forum Sept. 2–4 with more than 3,500 drone people from 70+ countries, which is both a statistic and also the precise number of humans who will photobomb your LinkedIn feed by Friday. As one of the biggest drone events of 2025, CUAV 2025 brings together brains and battery packs in an annual meeting of drone experts.
This year, CUAV 2025 it lands at a very specific moment for the industry: the FAA’s long awaited Part 108 BVLOS NPRM finally dropped, and we’re in the heat of the 60-day comment period. Translation for the non policy die-hards: the rules that could make routine BVLOS less special-waiver unicorn and more everyday reality are officially on the table. If you use drones for real work, this is your chance to help shape what “real work” looks like.
Where am I?
I’m not in Las Vegas this week. Instead, I’m in Phoenix, in a podcast studio, recording a dozen episodes and videos for my podcast, Smart Travel. Yes, I live many lives (I’m a travel writer and pocaster too!). The podcast fuels my 401k and health insurance — and yes, I do love my job. Definitely subscribe to my podcast if you want to hear me gab about travel and personal finance!
The Drone Girl feeds my free-time, my ability to work for myself, my inbox and my alarming collection of drones. But even from the Sonoran Desert, I can feel the CUAV-Week energy.
Why this CUAV 2025 matters
Plenty of trade shows promise “the future of drones.” CUAV 2025 is the first big tent since the BVLOS NPRM arrived, so expect sessions that decode BVLOS frameworks, insurer expectations and detect and avoid assumptions. You also may pick up tips around how to explain all of this to a CFO who has never once cared about link budgets but very much cares about risk.
If you attend one learning track, make it the BVLOS heavy hitters. Those includes no shortage of talks including:
- “The BVLOS NPRM has been released. What now?”
- “Navigating BVLOS operations”
- “Part 108 proposed rule”
- “Deep dive into Part 108” — this one is hosted by my friends over at Pilot Institute
What to check out today (Wednesday, Sept. 3)
Technically the conference opened yesterday, but today is the big day for CUAV 2025.
Start with the 9 a.m. opening keynote. You’ll hear how teams quantified ROI for skeptics, then you’ll get a case study that flew drones in the Grand Canyon by threading the right regulatory needles.
At 10:30 a.m., pick your flavor:
- Future of BVLOS: that “what now” panel I mentioned.
- Best uses of drone tech: revealing deployments across DOTs and inspection teams that go beyond “we took a pretty orthomosaic.” Expect infrastructure and maintenance leaders sharing workflows that actually get funded.
By lunch, get your steps in on the exhibit floor. There are 225+ exhibitors this year. If you’re a pilot who secretly loves process more than props, the Indoor Airspace demo zone is your toy store. Want to feel like a student again in the good way, not the I-forgot-to-study way? Park yourself at the Pilot Hub for “Everything you need to know before you fly,” then stay for business building and mapping workflow talks.
Afternoon is choose-your-adventure:
- Drone law and airspace access for the team lead who answers compliance DMs at 11 p.m.
- Defining drone program success for the managers who have to translate “cool flight” into “budget approved”
- Eyes above the ash for public safety teams operationalizing post-wildfire work with thermal, lidar, and AI
Close your rings at Pitch the Press and then stick around for the Networking Happy Hour. You came for BVLOS clarity. You stay for the serendipity of meeting the one integrator who has already solved your weirdest RTK problem.
Thursday is collaboration day, and it is not just a kumbaya
Thursday’s 9 a.m. keynote, “Breaking silos, building skies,” brings leaders from service providers and enterprise users to tackle a nasty truth: the more capable drones get, the more complex the ops.
You’ll get frameworks for aligning outcomes among clients, regulators, and vendors. Also on Thursday: “How real-world efficiencies are enabled by drone-in-a-box,” a meaty Part 108 session, and a very compelling set on lessons from Ukraine if you want a blunt look at UAS and counter-UAS under pressure.
And for those of you who treat professional development like a side quest, the Level Up Lounge is offering 15-minute consultations to polish your brand and pitch. Translate that to: finally fix your website’s “Services” page and your “about” headshot from 2018.
Six survival tips from a woman who has walked these floors in the past
Yes, I have been to CUAV in the past! If it’s your first time, here are my tips:
- Pick a role-based itinerary early. CUAV has prebuilt paths for pilots, surveyors, project managers, public safety, service providers, and airspace folks. Use them. Decision fatigue is real and the show is large.
- Schedule your demo time like a meeting. The gems are the in-between conversations with engineers who can actually say “no” and “we tried that and it broke.”
- Bring your numbers to every chat. If you can say “we saved 17 truck rolls last quarter” or “dock uptime 94 percent,” you will leave with better partners and better pricing.
- Write your BVLOS comment outline on the plane home. You’re in the 60-day window. Capture your specifics now while the panels are still ringing in your ears.
- Hydrate and snack! Caesars Forum is gorgeous, and also, it’s a cardio workout. Oh, and stay cool. Might I recommend those solar-paneled fan hats.
For everyone on site this week, have a blast, learn a lot, and make the future a little less wait-and-see and a little more let’s-go-now. I’ll be back on the show floor at future drone events!
Until then, happy CUAV 2025 week from your friendly neighborhood Drone Girl, reporting from Phoenix with equal parts FOMO and optimism.
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