FLYING INTO THE FUTURE

San Antonio university flies high with launch of innovative drone lab

St. Mary's latest science and engineering lab takes flight today.

Courtesy of St. Mary's University

Local college students are buzzing about the newest laboratory opening at St. Mary’s University.

Opening Monday, March 22, the new $600,000 Unmanned Aerial Systems Lab — aka Drone Lab — will help St. Mary’s students tap into the growing drone industry, which is expected to spawn several hundred thousand jobs.

The 1,434-square-foot Drone Lab, located behind the Richter-Math Engineering Center at St. Mary’s, includes a flight area, where professors will be able to incorporate drones into their curriculum and students can conduct drone-related research.

Funded in part by a STEM education grant and foundation funding, the Drone Lab supports the university’s new Unmanned Aerial Systems concentration under the B.S. in Engineering Science program.

“The Federal Aviation Administration predicts the U.S. registered commercial drone fleet to climb to between 442,000 and 1.6 million units in the next few years, which will, in turn, create a few hundred thousand jobs,” says Winston Erevelles, dean of the School of Science, Engineering and Technology.

In addition to helping develop the next generation of drone-industry workers, the new Drone Lab will be able to host summer camps for high school students and will become home to a new Drone Club, which will be open to all St. Mary’s students.

“We have this amazing facility where students can not only learn, but also apply the knowledge that they are learning in their classroom,” says Dante Tezza, assistant professor of computer/software engineering, adding that lab space is already a hot commodity among students working on such projects as redesigning a quadcopter and developing parachutes for drones.

While the Drone Lab opens today, St. Mary’s notes some equipment is still needed. The school hopes to gather more funds for the lab through its 24-hour St. Mary’s Giving Day initiative, currently underway. With donations to the Drone Endowment Fund, the school will be able to add sensors to the Drone Lab, as well as make future equipment updates and add cutting-edge software for practical classroom instruction.

education science

Vehicle News

What to know about new car inspection requirements in San Antonio

Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

Texas is changing requirements for vehicle registration.

Beginning January 1, 2025, Texas vehicle owners will no longer need to obtain a safety inspection prior to vehicle registration. House Bill 3297, passed during the 88th Legislature in 2023, eliminates the safety inspection program for non-commercial vehicles.

We'll all be free, free, free of the oppression of the safety inspection process. However …

Under the new law, the $7.50 fee that drivers had to pay as a safety inspection fee has not gone away. It now appears on your registration notice under a new name: "Inspection Program Replacement Fee."

This name change comes courtesy of the legislature, who want to keep collecting this fee because the funds go to state programs such as construction and expansion of state highways — funds they previously collected from the Safety Inspection Fee.

And while the safety inspection is gone, state law will still require that drivers in 17 counties must pass an "emission inspection" on vehicles that are 2 to 24 years old, in order to get your vehicle registered. In Bexar County, the new requirement will go into effect in 2026.

But what does an "emissions inspection" mean?

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) details the following changes:

Safety inspection out, emissions testing in
Until December 31, 2024, safety inspections are required for vehicle registration in all 254 counties. Beginning January 1, 2025, noncommercial vehicles in Texas will no longer be required to have an annual safety inspection. Instead, vehicles will have to get an emissions inspection on gasoline-powered vehicles that are 2 to 24 years old.

What is no longer going to be "inspected"?
Texas Transportation Code §548.051 specifies the list of old-school inspection items which will no longer be checked. Moving forward, they will no longer be checking: tires, wheel assembly, safety guards, safety flaps, brakes, steering, lighting, horns, mirrors, windshield wipers, sunscreening devices, and front seat belts in vehicles on which seat belt anchorages were part of the manufacturer's original equipment.

What will still be inspected are listed as "Items 12–15": exhaust system, exhaust emissions system, fuel tank cap, and emissions control equipment. These will be part of the emissions inspection process in 17 counties.

Those 17 counties where this is relevant include:

Austin: Travis and Williamson
DFW: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant
Houston: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, and Montgomery
El Paso County

In Bexar County, emissions inspections will be required beginning on November 1, 2026.

Where will emissions inspections be obtained?
Emissions inspections can be obtained at DPS-certified vehicle inspection stations in the 17 emissions counties. These will be the exact same inspection locations we've been going to all along, when it was called a safety inspection. Emissions inspections are not available in the other 237 Texas counties.

DPS offers an inspection station locator online.

What is the estimated cost of an emissions inspection?
Vehicle owners will pay an emissions inspection fee of $2.50 annually to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) at the time of registration. The actual fee you'll pay at the inspection station (as listed on TCEQ’s website) will be $25.50. Just like the former "safety inspection" fee.

In short: There is little that's changing about the entire inspection process, except they won't bother making you honk your horn.

transportation