Photo: Elbit Systems/YouTube
The longest drone corridor in the world could be built in the U.K., linking multiple cities across the country and representing the most ambitious British transport project since the railway network in the 18th century.
The idea was recently presented by a consortium led by Altitude Angel, a UTM (Unified Traffic Management) software provider based in Reading, in southern England. Altitude Angel’s platform is used in more than 150 countries worldwide, boasting of enabling hundreds of thousands of safe flight operations each month and striving to make UAS (unmanned aerial systems) accessible to a larger number of people.
Back to the world’s largest and longest network of drone superhighways, it is just in its blueprint phase for now, with the consortium calling it Project Skyway. The project Project is meant to encourage and help businesses commercialize more drone-based products and services.
Submitted plans initially refer to a 165 miles (265 km) drone superhighway that connects the airspace above several cities, including Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Coventry, Milton Keynes, and Rugby.
While this first phase only focuses on connecting the Midlands with the Southeast, the consortium is also considering extending the superhighway to Southampton and Ipswich (located in eastern England). Once this initial project is completed, Altitude Angel promises to make its technology available to any airport, city, or organization in the U.K. and also beyond, should they want to establish and operate such superhighways in a quick and cost-effective manner.
With Altitude Angel’s technology as a foundation and the support of the British government, the U.K. could create networks spanning the length and width of Britain, providing a critical digital infrastructure that will, in turn, enable the world’s first truly national drone economy, hopes Richard Parker, Altitude Angel’s CEO. He added that the U.K. has the skills and ambition to open its skies to safe and secure drone and air-taxi flights.
For now, the consortium is waiting to see if the project gets approved, with the decision to be communicated in the following weeks.
Back to the world’s largest and longest network of drone superhighways, it is just in its blueprint phase for now, with the consortium calling it Project Skyway. The project Project is meant to encourage and help businesses commercialize more drone-based products and services.
Submitted plans initially refer to a 165 miles (265 km) drone superhighway that connects the airspace above several cities, including Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Coventry, Milton Keynes, and Rugby.
While this first phase only focuses on connecting the Midlands with the Southeast, the consortium is also considering extending the superhighway to Southampton and Ipswich (located in eastern England). Once this initial project is completed, Altitude Angel promises to make its technology available to any airport, city, or organization in the U.K. and also beyond, should they want to establish and operate such superhighways in a quick and cost-effective manner.
With Altitude Angel’s technology as a foundation and the support of the British government, the U.K. could create networks spanning the length and width of Britain, providing a critical digital infrastructure that will, in turn, enable the world’s first truly national drone economy, hopes Richard Parker, Altitude Angel’s CEO. He added that the U.K. has the skills and ambition to open its skies to safe and secure drone and air-taxi flights.
For now, the consortium is waiting to see if the project gets approved, with the decision to be communicated in the following weeks.
Google News