UK regulator gives green light to delivery drone trials

Drones flown by remote pilots using only cameras and sensors to guide their aircraft moved a step closer to regular use on Tuesday with the UK aviation regulator announcing trials that, if successful, could transform the logistics sector.

Drones are currently banned from flying beyond the line of sight of their pilots under almost all circumstances, meaning it has been difficult to roll out the technology at scale on logistical tasks such as inspecting critical infrastructure or flying deliveries in urban areas. 

But the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has authorised West Sussex-based drone company Sees.ai to begin operating regular flights beyond the pilot’s line of sight at three locations in the UK, to test the safety of opening the technology up to the wider industry.

The drones will be flown by pilots who could be based hundreds or even thousands of miles away from their aircraft. The tests will take place on industrial sites well away from the public and other aircraft, the CAA said.

The regulator added that removing the limitation “fires the starting gun for the next phase of growth of the drone industry”.

John McKenna, the chief executive of Sees.ai, said the trials are a step towards drones regularly using a mixture of sensors and cameras to fly autonomously, without the need for human pilots at all. 

He likened the gradual adoption of the technology to driverless cars, which have been trialled on public roads in the UK but still have people in ultimate control in case the technology fails. 

Regulators around the world are racing to keep pace with rapid developments in unmanned aerial vehicles, with prototype delivery drones offering the potential to revolutionise logistics.

Industry and regulatory experts warn that one of the key hurdles will be making sure drones can detect and avoid other objects in the sky, while a system to manage drone traffic will also have to be rolled out, to ensure there are no collisions.

If regulators eventually allow autonomous drones to be flown at scale, they are likely to be used in industrial settings on missions such as monitoring rail and road infrastructure or nuclear power plants before they are unleashed in crowded urban environments, where there is significantly more risk if something goes wrong, McKenna said.

“I think shipping Amazon packages or delivering pizzas is coming, but still a long way off. Here in the UK I think we have a high quality of life and high privacy expectations,” he said.

Sees.ai was set up in 2017 by four co-founders who had previously worked at companies including Apple, professional services group Arup, hedge fund Hutchin Hill Capital and Cern, the European physics research laboratory in Geneva.

The trials are part of the CAA’s innovation hub, which is exploring how regulation of UK airspace can safely encourage innovation in areas including artificial intelligence and autonomous flying.

Other companies involved in the innovation programme include a delivery system from Amazon, which is designed to get packages to customers in half an hour or less using unmanned aerial vehicles.