Freedoms for innovation necessary

‘Hopefully this means that there will be more pace in granting freedoms for drones,’ Marc Sandelowsky responded from the RAI in Amsterdam where Drone Week is being held. Space53 is located at the Technology Base, with the test facilities of Twente Airport, among others. In principle, we too are bound by the rules that apply to everyone when using a drone, but because we are in a shielded and safe environment, we get exemptions. We still have to apply for these all separately now, though.

Drone as a solution to safety issues

Space53 started the ‘Next Level’ project at the beginning of this year. Together with the Twente Safety Region and emergency services such as police, fire brigade and ambulance, we are testing an automatic drone. This responds to a report of an incident via a sensor or camera, for example, and flies there automatically. The drone is quickly at the scene and can already pass on information to emergency services. 

Current rules do not allow testing in practice

This has been extensively tested at Technology Base and the results are positive. The next step is that the automatic drone can be tested in practice, but the rules do not allow that right now. ‘We want to see how it works if we deploy the automatic drone on an industrial estate, for example,’ Sandelowsky explains. ‘But it is forbidden to fly over a contiguous built-up area. Moreover, it has to be done at night, during the day it makes little sense. And then again, you're stuck with the drone being largely out of sight.’

More on Space53's website.