UK government launch drone standards to improve public confidence

UK drone standards are set to be introduced by the government in Spring 2018 to help strengthen public confidence in the technology’s safety, security and compliance, following an announcement at the House of Lords. These regulations aim to realise the industry's potential and its effect on business sectors such as transport and infrastructure. The conference highlighted the possibilities that drones will bring to freight and passenger transport, which it claimed will reduce the need for expensive infras
March 6, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
UK drone standards are set to be introduced by the government in Spring 2018 to help strengthen public confidence in the technology’s safety, security and compliance, following an announcement at the House of Lords. These regulations aim to realise the industry's potential and its effect on business sectors such as transport and infrastructure.


The conference highlighted the possibilities that drones will bring to freight and passenger transport, which it claimed will reduce the need for expensive infrastructure projects, slash road traffic, ease congestion, save lives and decrease pollution in cities.

Robert Garbett, chairman of the British Standards Institution (7041 BSI) committee on drone standards, said: “The development and adoption of the first quality and safety standards for the drone industry will make 2018 a pivotal year for an industry which is set to become a global phenomenon. It is the year when British and world standards will be crystallised, energising the industry, and enabling it to meet its full potential to the benefit of UK plc, and indeed economies worldwide.”

Challenges that lay ahead such as the levels of intelligence to make a passenger-carrying drone vehicle safe for use at speed and the liability for accidents were also recognised at the conference.

The announcement is sponsored by Field Marshal the lord Guthrie of Craigiebank on behalf of the BSI and Drone Major Group.

BSI chairman sir David Brown and politicians such as aviation minister Baroness Sugg attended the event alongside other senior stakeholders in the drone industry, including manufacturers, users, service  providers, economists, academics and media.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

BSI

Related Content

  • Mobinet counters weighty cross border concerns
    November 9, 2017
    A Mobinet pilot is combining onboard weighing with V2X comms to streamline vehicle weight enforcement. David Crawford reports. Pan-European, cross-border weigh-in-motion (WIM) for trucks is now a practical possibility, following successful Scandinavian trials within the EU-co-funded Mobinet (Internet of Mobility) programme. New technology is using strain sensors, located on load-bearing components and routinely installed in truck fleet management systems.
    Read More
  • Dubai launches autonomous vehicle strategy
    April 26, 2016
    Dubai has taken a major step towards autonomous vehicles with the launch of its Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy, which aims to transform 25 per cent of the total transportation in Dubai to autonomous mode by 2030. The Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy is expected to save US$6 billion in annual economic revenues by reducing transportation costs, carbon emissions and accidents, and raising the productivity of individuals as well as saving hundreds of millions of hours wasted in conventional tr
    Read More
  • Governments must develop regulations to ensure AV safety, experts warn
    January 9, 2019
    Governments are “lagging behind” in developing regulations to ensure the safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs). This was among the main messages from a key session at this week’s Consumer Electronics Event 2019 event in Las Vegas, US. Speaking during ‘Mobility and Connectivity Perspectives from the C-suite’, Joe Vitale, global automotive leader at Deloitte, said the company’s yearly consumer study has shown that more people feel getting into an AV is unsafe, which is in part due to the deaths caused b
    Read More
  • A global standard for enforcement systems – is it necessary?
    May 30, 2013
    Jason Barnes speaks to leading figures from the automated enforcement sector about whether a truly international standard for automated enforcement systems is necessary or can ever be achieved. Recent reports of further press controversy in the US over automated enforcement (see ‘Focusing on accuracy?’, ITS International raise again the issue of standards and what constitutes ‘good enough’ in terms of system accuracy and overall solution effectiveness. Comparatively, automated enforcement has always expe
    Read More

Highlighted Content