12/05/2022
Since 2014, the Commission has been engaged in laying the foundations for a comprehensive EU policy on drones. The Commission's Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy announced the development of a modern European drone strategy by the end of 2022.
In the European Drone Strategy 2.0, the EU Commission describes how it envisions the European drone market in the coming years. The strategy contains 19 operational, technical and financial flagship initiatives. These are to create a suitable legal and commercial environment for the airspace and market for drones. But before pushing ahead with new technologies, the EU Commission wants to ensure that society supports drones, that drone services are tailored to the needs of citizens, and that concerns about noise, safety, and privacy are addressed.
Thanks to the EU's comprehensive regulatory framework, hundreds of thousands of flight hours have already been safely performed by drones in the airspace over Europe, for such purposes as surveying infrastructure, monitoring oil spills, and ground sampling. Projects using drones for medical deliveries, i.e., transporting medical samples between healthcare services, are also progressing well. The January 2023 realization of "U-Space," a European system unique in the world for the safe management of drone traffic, will lay the groundwork for increased flight operations.
What is planned?
Emergency services, urgent deliveries of medicines, air cabs and many other drone services - all of these are expected to be part of everyday life in Europe by 2030.
Services of innovative air mobility, such as air cabs offering regular passenger transport, will initially still use aircraft that have pilots on board. Ultimately, however, the goal is to fully automate flight operations. To ensure that the potential of the EU drone market and services can be realized, it is important to determine which technological building blocks, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors, EU space services and mobile telecommunications, are particularly important for this purpose. This will help the EU build an innovative and competitive drone sector and reduce strategic dependencies.
The strategy identifies areas for synergies between civil and defense drones, as well as increased drone defense capabilities and system resilience.
Further information https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/programmes/digital
Source: European Commission
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