PVE would be great, but balance is needed before anthing else balancing gameplay 1st develop, release, and balance PVE 2nd.

The most likely infantry explanation for PVE would be pirate factions hiding out on bases on the planets. This is doable for future PVE, but the easiest starting point will be the drones, as most of the work is already done. From the video, we can see that anti infantry weaponry is effective against the small drones, while light AV (Mass Driver in the above example) is effective against the medium drones. Heavy AV (Forge Gun is the only one that exists at the moment) apears to be required in to take down the large drones

Exactly. This could fuel the growth of the game on a massive scale.
This would spark new interest in the game.
This would let everyone know CCP cares about their players and seeks to fulfill the promises of old.
This would bring veteran players back.
This would bring new players into the game.
This would make Dust 514 more financially viable.
This would provide a more well defined role for vehicle gameplay.
This could give CCP a reason to add the missing vehicles.
This would give us something other than each other to test features against.
This would provide a stable platform on which to base balancing passes without it all being "X class killed me, NERF them"
This could defeat the nerfvalanche.
This would attract players from competing games.
This could fix the entire game.

All it takes is one first step.
All it takes is a very basic player-versus-drone gamemode that just needs to be good enough for a first step.
It can be refined and tweaked afterward.
It would provide better statistics for balancing purposes.
It would strengthen the community and draw out the lifespan of this game.

the only reason i've been given why not is "the RDV ai is awful"
This suggestion provides a reason and a way to improve that.

@Pokey,
please keep in mind that the RDV is not intended as an AI based vehicle. it stands for Rapid Deployment Vehicle, although many players dont know this by now and call it a Remote Deployment Vehicle.

Just as many players do not know that OB stands for Orbital Barrage, and so even in factional warfare people call them Warbarge Strikes

This could be used to repurpose that ai, and perhaps at some point when player owned MCCs exist, player owned RDVs can exist.
and then a MCC pilot could fly in the RDV for you and you would never have vehicles wrecked by a bad AI again
The game can be much more than it is. even without jumping ship and moving on to a different platform, Dust 514 can become the game we all dreamed of.

That is why i dont forget.
That is why i will never forget

erm, that's sexual harassment. Please remove that.