> The connotations of "drone" are not great. (The next word in the bi-gram would be "strike"...) Maybe we can go back to "UAV" or pick another term for non-militarized, commercial delivery.

You have your connotations backwards. You'll see no consumer drones marketed as UAVs, but plenty of military drones are called that.

Yeah, I can see that. Too bad because "drone" also has the connotation of "dumb" or "slave", which is the opposite of what you want an autonomous vehicle to be that's sharing your airspace. (It makes more sense in the remotely-piloted case, as in the military versions.) But words take on their own lives, and I guess there are now "drones".

Drones must fly below 400 feet and thus are not sharing the airspace with crewed vehicles (which fly above 500 feet).

Depends:

> Maximum altitude of 400 feet above ground level (AGL) or, if higher than 400 feet AGL, remain within 400 feet of a structure.

You can also apply for a waiver.

Yes - literally your airspace...

"UAV" has stronger military connotations for me. I'm not sure it's inherently better. Maybe something entirely new is better? "AAV" Autonomous Ariel Vehicle, or something similar?

sUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft System) is what the FAA uses

Or just UAS, since the UAM air taxis that are coming and are largely being lumped in with these deliveries aren’t very small at all.

For what it’s worth, at NASA the official term is (s)UAS, but we use that and UAV, drone, etc interchangeably has in day to day conversation. As long as it’s clear what you’re talking about, the exact word is really not that important.

Not sure about the connotations: flying toys (Parrot and the like) are heavily marketed as drones and seem to sell fine.

In 2006 a “drone” carried hellfire missiles. At some point in the last decade, that shifted and now a drone is a small hobby quad-copter. Language is funny.

The word that the FAA uses is sUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft System).

As long as it is under 55 lbs. is counted as a sUAS under FAA regulations.

Is that pronounced "soo-ass"?

I say "Swass", but I know I'm the only one that says that

Sadly no, I’ve only ever heard it all spelled out.