A new drone delivery industry group has put together a White Paper to establish the steps required for the UK to launch the technology commercially in the UK.
The UK Drone Delivery Group is calling for the development of new testing grounds to trial deliveries for the medical delivery, agriculture and emergency services industries.
The Portsmouth and Southampton Future Mobility Zone has already proposed testing drone delivery for medical supplies from mainland UK to the Isle of Wight.
Robert Garbett, founder of the UK Drone Delivery Group, said: “The release of this report 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 said it has already received “widespread interest” from owners and operators of potential testing grounds and will soon start testing the capabilities for the parcel delivery for medicines, agricultural and emergency services sectors.
Garbett wants to identify new testing grounds to be used for take-off and landing, including airports and airfields, forests, remote coastal areas and ports, as well as residential areas and other dense urban environments.
He said: “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.”
There will be a three month review period and then the UK Drone Delivery Group expects the White Paper to be published for adoption by July 2020.
The deadline for feedback is May 31, 2020 and a draft version of 'The commercialisation of the UK civil air drone industry' White Paper is available to download.
Those interested in participating in the UK Drone Delivery Group’s drone testing ground initiative are asked to contact: dronedeliverygroup.org/join-the-group
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