The calm of the beach of the Rock, a very nice beach in the north of Tel Aviv is suddenly disturbed by a veritable swarm of drones. They land on a lawn. On board sushi, beer cans and also ice cream. All this to the great joy of the journalists who came to attend the event.
For the moment it is a test. The third of eight phases of a large-scale exercise taking place simultaneously at several sites along the coast of Israel. “We are trying to set up a national network. It is not a drone that flies from point to point. We want to create a management system that will allow many drones belonging to many companies to fly together in urban area for different uses “, explains Daniella Partem, from the Israeli innovation agency.
The idea is to help reduce road congestion and improve air quality by using electrically powered unmanned aerial vehicles. “We are doing this in an incremental fashion to verify the technology, to show that it is safe and under control.says Eyal Billia, responsible for intelligent transport systems at Ayalon Highways, the company that manages the project. We are building the project with baby steps, as they say, so that there is no danger to the public. “
For the next phases of this drone deployment, the Israelis want to go very fast. For the moment the missions are limited to 5 km with a load of about 2.5 kg. But as early as next year, according to the Israel Innovation Agency, drones will be able to fly within a 100 km radius with much larger loads.
“In 4 years, we already want, as part of our tests, to fly passengers, flying taxis, autonomous vehicles that can carry 2 to 6 people.”
Reut Borochov, head of drones at Ayalon Highwayto franceinfo
“We are working on this option and it will be the next phase of this project”, enthuses the head of drones at Ayalon Highway Reut Borochov, very optimistic. A step forward towards a new reality or how to clear a path some 100 meters above the traffic jams which paralyze the country which claims to be the “startup nation” every day.