Why the future is bright for drone technology

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Khaled Abusalem, Chairman of UAV and Robotics , Saudi Aramco & Mansour Alsaleh, Head, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Saudi Arabia & Timothy Reuter, Head of Aerospace and Drones, World Economic Forum & Talal Alsedairy, Drones Lead, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Saudi Arabia

• During the pandemic, drones have helped communities to access goods and services.
• Regulators across the globe are now looking at ways to support the expansion of drone technology, exploring carrying heavier loads and transporting people.
• Saudi Arabia could become a global leader for emerging drone technologies.

Over the past year we have seen drones become more relevant to people’s lives. The technology has matured, and during the pandemic there has been a new urgency about finding new ways of accessing goods and services. In Ghana, drones delivered 13% of the country’s initial shipment of COVID-19 vaccine in just 3 days. In the United States, the Alphabet-owned drone delivery company Wing saw demand for its services double as people looked for contactless ways to get access to consumer goods.

In response, many regulators across the globe have demonstrated interest in helping this industry to expand its operations.They are granting more approvals under current frameworks, and also adopting more comprehensive frameworks to enable larger scale drone operations

Previously, drones were only capable of transporting light packages. But a new class of system is emerging that can carry 70 kg to 500kg loads, depending on the aircraft. This means that new delivery models can be more efficient and cost-effective than existing helicopter, truck, or ferry-based infrastructure, especially for goods that are of high social or economic value in areas that are not well served by current infrastructure. Remote, rural, and offshore communities can receive essential goods via autonomous aerial systems, if the right regulations can be put in place.

Heavy-lift drone delivery has recently reached a level of technical maturity, and the systems are ready for certification by civil aviation authorities. Approving heavy cargo operations may also serve as a bridge to platforms that carry people, such as Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) and Urban Aerial Mobility (UAM), as the technology is similar. AAM platforms have seen a rapid influx of capital. In the last six months, four companies – Joby Aviation, Lilium, Archer, and Elevation Aerospace – have announced plans to go public later this year.

What is the World Economic Forum doing about drones?

The World Economic Forum is partnering with governments and companies to create flexible regulations that allow drones to be manufactured and used in various ways to help society and the economy.

Drones can do many wonderful things, but their upsides are often overshadowed by concerns about privacy, collisions and other potential dangers. To make matters worse, government regulations have not been able to keep up with the speed of technological innovation.

In 2017 the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution teamed up with the Government of Rwanda to draft the world’s first framework for governing drones at scale. Using a performance-based approach that set minimum safety requirements instead of equipment specifications, this innovative regulatory framework gave drone manufacturers the flexibility to design and test different types of drones. These drones have delivered life-saving vaccines, conducted agricultural land surveys, inspected infrastructure and had many other socially beneficial uses in Rwanda.

Today, the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is working with governments and companies in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America to co-design and pilot agile policies that bring all the social and economic benefits of drone technology while minimizing its risks.

Read more here, and contact us if you’re interested in getting involved with the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s pioneering work in the governance of emerging technologies.

Saudi Arabia could become a global leader in enabling heavy lift cargo solutions, and serve as a hub for emerging drone technologies. Although Saudi Arabia generally has excellent transportation infrastructure, some communities still have poor access to important medical and general consumer and industrial supplies due to complicated mountain, dessert, or water terrain. The country’s Vision 2030 notes a “significant backlog across the road network, leading to inadequate transport infrastructure,” along with a strategic objective to “promoting ease/possibility of living across [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia].” Heavy-lift drone delivery offers an opportunity to address these challenges and objectives.

However, regulation and business models lag behind and in some cases actively prevent companies from realising the potential of this technology. Public-private collaboration is needed to make sure cargo drones develop in a way that protects public safety, ensures community interests are represented, and considers how the integration of new technologies into supply chains is done in a cost-effective manner.

The World Economic Forum and the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Saudi Arabia are initiating a heavy-lift drone project. This will support the Saudi Ministry of Transport and the General Authority of Civil Aviation to develop a regulatory framework, building on successful collaborations with Rwanda, Switzerland, India, and other governments on this topic. The Forum also works with key stakeholders from the private and public sectors in Saudi Arabia to identify socially beneficial uses for heavy-lift drone delivery, and make sure the regulations support them.

By integrating these two mutually supportive components of regulatory transformation and pilot tests, Saudi Arabia can be a model for the rest of the world while supporting its own industrial development and social goals. The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Saudi Arabia will launch its first ‘Saudi Forum for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Harnessing 4IR’ that will take place in Riyadh on July 28-29^th of this year. The forum will gather a broad range of senior international policy experts and leaders from the public and private sectors in the region to discuss, among other topics, the opportunities that we can seize with the advent of the 4IR to advance efficiency, sustainability, and economic growth.