Industry body the Drone Delivery Group has published a paper calling for new testing grounds to help drive the country into becoming a leader in drone delivery.
Robert Garbett, founder of the UK Drone Delivery Group, stated: “The release of this White Paper for public consultation represents a major milestone for the UK drone industry. The mass-participation drone testing programme that the White Paper calls for will significantly transform the UK’s capability to achieve world-leadership in this industry.
“The recommendations in the White Paper highlight the practical measures necessary to enable full economic development of drones, including the testing of competing solutions to make Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flying possible.”
The UK Drone Delivery Group is a new industry body that has already received support from much of the businesses involved in this sector. In testing drone delivery across a range of uses including medicine, agriculture and emergency services, it hopes to increase the use of drones nationwide.
Garbett added: “Facilitating a world leading UK commercial drone industry will bring immense benefits to UK plc, driving innovation, wealth creation and employment opportunities right across the economy. The pace of drone technology development around the world is accelerating, and the UK, if it moves quickly, can reap the full benefits of this technology, not just in the air, but also from drones developed to operate on land or water, underwater or in space.
“The potential benefits are staggering, but we need to act now. We are keen to identify new testing grounds to be used for take-off and landing, ideally including airports and airfields, but also forests, remote coastal areas and ports, through to residential areas and other dense urban environments.
“Industry is looking now to the Government to get behind this initiative, working with both public and private sector drone users to help create a world-beating UK industry that could play a huge role in underpinning our future economic prosperity.”
