Spain may use drones for traffic monitoring

Spain’s highway agency and technology company Sistemas y Montajes Industriales are developing unmanned drones to monitor traffic on public highways and may have drones ready to come into operation from next year, according to Euroweekly News. Alberto de Laorden, the director of Sistems, was at the Seventh National Road Safety Congress in Valencia and confirmed that the prototype is on course to be ready by next year. Laorden spoke about the advantages of the aircraft at the Congress, “Much cheaper tha
November 10, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Spain’s highway agency and technology company Sistemas y Montajes Industriales are developing unmanned drones to monitor traffic on public highways and may have drones ready to come into operation from next year, according to Euroweekly News.

Alberto de Laorden, the director of Sistems, was at the Seventh National Road Safety Congress in Valencia and confirmed that the prototype is on course to be ready by next year.

Laorden spoke about the advantages of the aircraft at the Congress, “Much cheaper than a helicopter and faster to deploy, drones could be used to monitor problem areas such as zones affected by floods or other natural disaster.”

The aircraft could be fitted with cameras to detect issues with road surfaces, recognise number plates and record traffic violations he said.

At the moment legislation demands that the operator keep the drone within sight which would make it impossible for the aircraft to be used to track hundreds of kilometres of motorways.
Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Agencies in pursuit of high-speed WIM accuracy
    April 20, 2017
    Alan Dron looks at where WIM is heading in the near future. As Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) systems grow in sophistication and accuracy, they are increasingly being used in more active roles to help ensure road safety through enforcement action against overweight vehicles.
    Read More
  • Smart Spanish city trials cell-based traffic management
    November 7, 2013
    David Crawford reports on an urban electronic nervous system. The northern Spanish city of Santander – historically a port - is now an emerging technology showcase attracting global attention as a prototype for a medium-sized smart city of the future. In a move to determine the optimal use of available data, it is creating a de-facto experimental laboratory for sensor and mobile phone-based urban traffic management and environmental monitoring innovations.
    Read More
  • Rio’s TMC rises to Olympic challenge
    October 27, 2016
    Timothy Compston lifts the lid on Rio de Janeiro’s preparations for keeping its transport systems moving during the Olympics – and the outcome. Hosting the Olympics poses major traffic management challenges for any city and Rio was no exception – especially as it is already one of the world’s most congested cities. Beyond its normal 6.5 million inhabitants wanting to carry on their daily lives, in August Rio was also home to 11,300 athletes from 206 countries. Athletes who, without fail, had to reach their
    Read More
  • New solutions for catching texting drivers
    October 28, 2016
    Many countries have laws prohibiting texting while driving but enforcement is proving difficult – David Crawford looks at some new approaches being tried by authorities. Finding definitive solutions – technological, regulatory and educational - to the potentially lethal practice of people driving while using mobile phones is proving elusive, while the stakes grow higher.
    Read More

Highlighted Content