UK set to have automated drone superhighway

Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by EUROCARE on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @07:06AM (#32149918)

I have a medical helicopter flying over my house roughly every second day and that's more than enough. If all the cars marked as "organ transport" that I see around here went by helicopter instead I wouldn't be able to hear my GF talking at home... And of course - the cost and emissions, and the inability to land at small fields...

I don't see how a big, bulky, human-piloted helicopter could be in any way better than a specialized, lightweight unmanned vehicle.

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Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by Nextgrid on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @07:29AM (#32150084)

I bet the money that will be wasted on this project (before it inevitable get shelved) will be way more than the costs of just buying out the land affected by the noise from helicopter organ transport so people that are bothered by it can move (and maybe resell the land at a discount to those who don't mind the noise, whether it's due to better soundproofing or converting it to office space that wouldn't mind it).

Yes, in the very long run, drone transport for these things would be better due to emissions/etc, but IMO the country has more pressing problems at the moment.

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Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by EUROCARE on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @08:10AM (#32150375)

I live in the centre of a capital city. Not even the state could get enough money to buy the affected land here.

> Yes, in the very long run, drone transport for these things would be better due to emissions/etc, but IMO the country has more pressing problems at the moment.

A country always has thousands of more pressing problems, the issue is that nobody orders them the same way. The best you can do is to solve more than one problem at a time.

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Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by rich_sasha on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @07:35AM (#32150120)

I think in the here and now, autonomous drones sharing airspace with other aircraft is not really a solved problems. Otherwise agreed.

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Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by vidarh on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @08:06AM (#32150354)

Hence the "superhighway" to ensure the drones sticks to a pre-defined volume which other aircraft won't be straying into.

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Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by prvit on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @08:40AM (#32150646)

For what it’s worth, a lot of vehicles marked “organ transport” are just people trying to avoid speeding tickets and aggressive behavior from other drivers.

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Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by saiya-jin on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @07:49AM (#32150221)

At current situation, reliability of transport. Drones may be 99% reliable (making up the number), but thats not enough when that 1% means somebody on waiting list is going to die due to failed transport.

Costs benefits are obvious but there are always drawbacks, especially when every fail may mean 1 dead person.

And that you bought your property so badly placed is unfortunate, but the result of your own choices (or more like lack of thorough research). If you bought it next to highway so should all car traffic in the area be banned?

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Re:UK set to have automated drone superhighway by captainredbeard on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @09:31AM (#32151147)

> inability to land at small fields...

Helicopters can operate with VTOL.

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