These key regulatory adjustments clear the path for the most powerful S&P 500 companies to invest billions of dollars into their commercial drone programs.

In fact, it's already happening.

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) is testing Amazon Prime Air, its system to use drones to fulfill local deliveries, in Canada, the UK and the Netherlands. Now that the FAA has opened up the U.S. skies to commercial drones, Amazon hopes to fully launch Prime Air in the United States in 2017 or 2018.