Idaho pitches for drones, but has some explaining to do

States including Idaho have been jostling for attention at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, or AUVSI, convention in Washington, D.C. this week, looking for a piece of the drone business as the unmanned aircraft market balloons and states compete to become federal test sites. The group’s website calls it “THE global market place for all things unmanned,” and says 8,000 attendees from more than 40 countries are attending.

But while Ohio’s booth served Buckeye State-shaped cookies, Politico reports , and North Dakota Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley personally pitched his state as a test site, Idaho’s delegation had to explain a graphic in the AUVSI magazine distributed at the conference showing Idaho as bright-red on a map, one of seven states that’s passed “anti-UAS bills.” Idaho’s delegation told Politico that was misinformation, and Idaho’s new legislation “ensures the taxpayers that the technology won’t be abused.” Read more. Betsy Russell, EOB

Do you think it likely that Idaho will get a piece of the drone business?