The United Kingdom is set to host a ‘drone superhighway.’ The UK government is now pushing for some serious investments in the department of drones.
The United Kingdom Set To Host a ‘Drone Superhighway’
Just recently, the UK government announced the construction of the longest and largest drone highway in the world in what could be a major shakeup for delivery and logistics workers all over. The project which is a 164-mile superhighway is termed ‘skyway.’ And it will aim at connecting towns such as oxford, reading, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Coventry, and Rugby. The project is set to be completed in the next two years.
The project will be led by a tech firm based in reading known as UTM (unified Traffic Management) alongside software vendor Altitude Angel and BT, EE, and a host of other UK startups.
How Will the Project Work?
The consulting firm behind the project revealed that although currently drones ‘cannot be flown without a human pilot, except in rare circumstances’ the new superhighway will takeaway this problem ‘by enabling any drone manufacturer to connect a drone’s guidance and communication systems to a virtual superhighway system which takes care of guiding drones safely through ‘corridors’, onward to their destinations, using only a software integration.’
The consortium also said that the innovation is possible due to the fact that skyway does not rely on drones that are carrying specific onboard sensors to see other aerial traffic but however proposes to put ‘higher-power, better sensors’ from a series of manufacturers on the ground along a sensor network which is then in turn processes in real-time to help provide guidance.
This, therefore, means that the drones that will be making use of the highway do not need to compromise payload, efficiency, or even range and can also ‘tap into’ or get access to high-resolution data from various sensors and from the ground-based network.
The Announcement Is Part of a Lager Aerospace Sector Project
The announcement for the superhighway is coming as part of a whopping 273M BPD of a government funding package that has been put together for the aerospace sector of the united kingdom, aimed for investments in all areas of technology and this is inclusive of solar-powered aircraft, flying taxis, and drones that will be delivering medical supplies.
Business Secretary Made the Announcement at the Farnborough International Airshow
Kwasi Kwarteng who is the secretary of business announced the package at the Farnborough international airshow.
‘The social and economic potential of drones is immense and requires close industry collaboration to fully unlock these opportunities in a safe and responsible way,’ Dave Pankhurst, director of drones at BT said. ‘It’s an exciting time to be part of such a powerful consortium.’
He continued: ‘Project Skyway will be crucial to showcase how the UK can not only lead the creation of new jobs and public services but form the backbone of how we integrate drones into our daily lives.’
Walmart Is Also Expanding Its Drones Service
It is however not only the United Kingdom that is seeing a surge of drones. That being said, Walmart is expanding its own drone delivery service to 34 locations across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia, thus serving potentially 4 million households in a collaboration with DroneUp.
