Sorry for the long delay on replying to this, but I finally got enough time to start looking at my drone rules again.
I like the skill expertise idea for this. 1) it requires no new modifications to the rules. 2) it limits the skill level of the program, so PCs remain relevant. 3) it allows drone (aka robot) vehicles to operate independently for simple tasks.
A unskilled drone operator could simply use machine/computer ops to command the drone to "fly to the spooky alien crash site at coordinates XX, fly a pattern above the target for 5 minutes while broadcasting sensor results, then return to home". The drone with piloting -air, and signalling -sensors and countermeasures skill expertise packages at mature max would do the rest. When the alien menace lurking at the crash site takes offense, it can take a shot at the drone who will be poorly skilled enough to get blown up.
Whereas a skilled drone operator could remotely operate the drone using their own skills (probably with a telepresense penalty that could be removed with either a specialized drone piloting skill or a combat style) and maybe save the pricey drone.
The limit on the skill ranks will probably irritate my PCs, but that is their issue for relying on a computer to do their jobs!
Regards,