Flying High: Shaping the Future of Drones in UK Cities
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Flying High: shaping the future of drones in UK cities Flying High: shaping the future of drones in UK cities Full report 23 July 2018 The full text of this report, including high resolution images and an interactive map, is available at flyinghighchallenge.org About Nesta Nesta is a global innovation foundation. We back new ideas to tackle the big challenges of our time. We use our knowledge, networks, funding and skills -working in partnership with others, including governments, businesses and charities. We are a UK charity but work all over the world, supported by a financial endowment. To find out more visit www.nesta.org.uk If you’d like this publication in an alternative format such as Braille, large print or audio, please contact us at: [email protected] This report is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence, apart from all photographs and illustrations credited to ILYA. 2 Flying High: shaping the future of drones in UK cities Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 This report demonstrates the potential of drone technology ......................................................... 5 Executive summary ........................................................................................................................................ 6 The need for Flying High ............................................................................................................................. 10 The opportunity for the UK ......................................................................................................................... 13 What drones can do in UK cities .............................................................................................................. 19 Shaping drone use in London ................................................................................................................... 24 Shaping drone use in the West Midlands ............................................................................................. 33 Shaping drone use in Southampton ........................................................................................................ 41 Shaping drone use in Preston ................................................................................................................... 49 Shaping drone use in Bradford................................................................................................................. 56 Five use cases for drones in UK cities .................................................................................................... 64 Medical delivery in London ........................................................................................................................ 66 Traffic incident response in the West Midlands ................................................................................. 69 Southampton–Isle of Wight medical delivery ..................................................................................... 72 Construction and regeneration in Preston ........................................................................................... 75 Supporting the fire and rescue service in Bradford ........................................................................... 78 Exploring urban drone integration ........................................................................................................... 81 What we have found ................................................................................................................................. 100 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 108 Glossary ........................................................................................................................................................... 115 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... 117 3 Flying High: shaping the future of drones in UK cities Foreword We have a golden opportunity to shape the future of drones in the UK There is a moment in time where a new technology is in its infancy, where the opportunity exists to shape how it evolves and impacts our lives. A moment when we can choose for it to be largely beneficial and driven by the needs of those it will affect. This is also a moment where a country can position itself to take the lead in its development and reap the associated economic benefits. For drones that moment in time is now. There are competing views of the future of drones in UK cities, and the country at large. Utopian visions of smart cities, congestion solved, services streamlined. Dystopian visions of surveillance, nuisance and noise. And for many, not much vision at all: an uncertain future, seldom thought of in any depth. The Flying High project intends to shine some light on this future. To better understand what drones’ place in our lives might be, to find out what challenges lie in store, to assess the benefits to cities and the people who live in them, and to start a much-needed conversation to build a shared view of this future. This report is a summary of some of the key things we’ve done and the key facts we’ve learned as part of this process of engaging with five UK cities, as well as national stakeholders and experts. The most important legacy of Flying High, though, is not in the pages you are reading now, but in the coalition that has been built, the shared objectives that have been developed and the future action that will follow. Tris Dyson Executive Director, Challenge Prize Centre Nesta 4 Flying High: shaping the future of drones in UK cities This report demonstrates the potential of drone technology The Flying High project will help accelerate drone technology for real- world complex city environments, says UK Research and Innovation’s Andrew Tyrer The five city projects under the Flying High project are all excellent examples of the potential for drone technology to make a real difference to our everyday lives. This important report clearly sets out the challenges involved in delivering the vision for drone utilisation in city landscapes, and also points out the huge potential for UK companies and organisations to seize these exciting opportunities. This is why UK Research and Innovation were pleased to sponsor this first stage of the Flying High project, because it complements the aims of the Industrial Strategy Robots for a Safer World Challenge. When we made the case to Government for Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund investment in robotics and artificial intelligence, one of the prime candidate areas was extreme and hazardous environments. Not only is it one of the places cutting-edge robotic technologies are being developed, it’s a place where the UK already plays well, where there is a defined need and where the opportunity to grow and dominate international markets exists. The Flying High project’s goal will be to help accelerate the use of cutting edge robotic drone technologies into real-world, complex city environments. Its findings will be important for the whole robotics and AI sector. Andrew Tyrer Challenge Director, Robots for a Safer World Challenge UK Research and Innovation 5 Flying High: shaping the future of drones in UK cities Executive summary We can take control of the future by solving the key technical and societal hurdles for drones • Cities are enthusiastic about the potential for drones to deliver societal benefit • Public confidence, technical progress and space to experiment are all needed if we are to move forward • Challenge prizes could help unlock the opportunity Through an engagement with five UK cities, national-level institutions and policy and technology experts, the Flying High project has explored the current state and future possibilities of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, in urban environments in the UK. The project has looked at drones from several contrasting and complementary perspectives - not just technology, but also policy, economics and societal impact. The project has included: • City engagement with five partner cities. • Technical feasibility studies into five applications of drones. • Economic and social feasibility studies of these five applications. • Key stakeholder engagement with national bodies such as regulators. • Industry and research mapping to understand the opportunity for the UK. • Systems research to understand how drones could work at scale in cities. • Public impact analysis to assess the likelihood of future initiatives having the desired outcomes. This is what we have found. Drones bring benefits to UK cities: they are worth promoting Cities see an opportunity for drones to support public services Our work on the place-based aspects of drones has been driven through our engagement with cities, and in particular informed by the five cities (Bradford, London, Preston, Southampton and the West Midlands) with which we partnered. We find a considerable appetite for the use of drones in these cities, and for public service applications in particular. This is reflected in the five urban drone uses we explore in greater depth. In general there are commonalities in the cities’ visions for the future of drones,