In compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, AeroVironment Inc., a drone maker based in Monrovia, California, launched the first commercial drone aircraft over land on Sunday.

AeroVironment currently has a five-year contract with the FAA, which could lead to other companies and government agencies such as police departments to launch commercial drones, The Los Angeles Times reported.

The company's drone, Puma AE, has been flying over the BP Exploration Inc.'s Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, the largest of its kind in North America. The Puma is being used to scan the oil fields with high-tech sensors to create a 3D computerized image of the area's roads, pads and pipelines.

AeroVironment designed the Puma, which begins to fly once being thrown into the air, to provide military troops on the ground a bird's-eye view of their surrounding area such as what's around a bend or over a ridge.

The company has been the top drone supplier to the Pentagon, but since the end of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, sales have declined for the drone manufacturer. Other drone models it has created have included the Raven and Wasp, according to The Times.

The Puma was also used to assist BP drivers by giving them a high resolution 3D map of narrow roads that they were hauling 3.5-million-pound drill rigs through.

AeroVironment Chief Executive Timothy Conver said the commercial use of the new technology would be an major step for the industry.

"This is an important achievement for our joint team and for the industry in demonstrating the safe and effective use of our proven UAS technology for commercial applications," Conver said in a statement.

The FAA still has a ban on drone use but has made exceptions in the past, including AreoVironment's recent contract. However, the agency has begun to loosen its grip on enforcing the ban as more commercial industries demand to use drones, The Times reported.

Filmmakers in Hollywood would like to begin using drones to film certain scenes for movies while Amazon and pizza companies such as Domino's have considered using drones to deliver products and pizzas, respectively.

The FAA has been trying to meet a mandate Congress approved that would integrate the airspace with the robotic aircraft technology by September 2015, but the problem remains that remotely piloted aircrafts don't have adequate "detect, sense and avoid" technology, according to The Times.