Technology

A UK government backed drone innovation project thatexploring how unmanned aerial vehicles could benefit cities — including for use-cases such as medical delivery, traffic incident response, fire response and construction and regeneration — has reported early learnings from the first phase of the project.

Five city regions are being used as drone test-beds as part of NestaFlying High Challenge— namely London, the West Midlands, Southampton, Preston and Bradford.

While five socially beneficial use-cases for drone technology have been analyzed as part of the project so far, including considering technical, social and economic implications of the tech.

The project has been ongoing since December.

Nesta, the innovation-focused charity behind the project and the report, wants the UK to become a global leader in shaping drone systems that place peopleneeds first, and writes in the report that: &Cities must shape the future of drones: Drones must not shape the future of cities.&

In the report it outlines some of the challenges facing urban implementations of drone technology and also makes some policy recommendations.

It also says that socially beneficial use-cases have come out as an early winner over of cities to the potential of the tech — over and above &commercial or speculative& applications such as drone delivery or for carrying people in flying taxis.

The five use-cases explored thus far via the project are:

• Medical delivery within London— a drone delivery network for carrying urgent medical products between NHS facilities, which would routinely carry products such as pathology samples, blood products and equipment over relatively short distances between hospitals in a network
• Traffic incident response in the West Midlands — responding to traffic incidents in the West Midlandsto support the emergency servicesprior to their arrival and while they are on-site, allowing them to allocate the right resources and respond more effectively
• Fire response in Bradford— emergency response drones for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service. Drones would provide high-quality information to supportemergency call handlersandfire ground commanders, arriving on the scene faster than is currently possible and helping staff plan an appropriate response for the seriousness of the incident
• Construction and regeneration in Preston— drone services supporting construction work for urban projects. This would involve routine use of drones prior to and during construction, in order to survey sites and gather real-time information on the progress of works
• Medical delivery across the Solent— linking Southampton across the Solent to the Isle of Wight using a delivery drone. Drones could carry light payloads of up to a few kilos over distances of around 20 miles, with medical deliveries of products being a key benefit

Flagging up technical and regulatory challenges to scaling the use of drones beyond a few interesting experiments, Nest writes:&In complex environments, flight beyond the operatorvisual line of sight, autonomy and precision flight are key, as is the development of an unmanned traffic management (UTM) system to safely manage airspace. In isolation these are close to being solved — but making these work at large scale in a complex urban environment is not.&

&While there is demand for all of the use cases that were investigated, the economics of the different use cases vary: Some bring clear cost savings; others bring broader social benefits. Alongside technological development, regulation needs to evolve to allow these use cases to operate. And infrastructure like communications networks and UTM systems will need to be built,& it adds.

The report also emphasizes the importance of public confidence, writing that: &Cities are excited about the possibilities that drones can bring, particularly in terms ofcritical public services,but are also wary of tech-led buzz that can gloss over concerns of privacy, safety and nuisance. Cities want to seize the opportunity behind drones but do it in a way that responds to what their citizens demand.&

And the charity makes an urgent call for the public to be brought into discussions about the future of drones.

&So far the general public has played very little role,& it warns. &There is support for the use of drones for public benefit such as for the emergency services. In the first instance, the focus on drone development should be onpublicly beneficialuse cases.&

Giving the combined (and intertwined) complexity of regulatory, technical and infrastructure challenges standing in the way of developing viable drone service implementations, Nesta is also recommending the creation of testbeds in which drone services can be developed with the &facilities and regulatory approvals to support them&.

&Regulation will also need to change: Routine granting of permission must be possible, blanket prohibitions in some types of airspace must be relaxed, and an automated system of permissions — linked to an unmanned traffic management system — needs to be put in place for all but the most challenging uses. And we will need a learning system to share progress on regulation and governance of the technology, within the UK and beyond, for instance with Eurocontrol,& it adds.

&Finally, the UK will need to invest in infrastructure, whether this is done by the public or private sector, to develop the communications and UTM infrastructure required for widespread drone operation.&

In conclusion Nesta argues there is &clear evidence that drones are an opportunity for the UK& — pointing to the &hundreds& of companies already operating in the sector; and to UK universities with research strengths in the area; as well as suggesting public authorities could save money or provide &new and better services thanks to drones&.

At the same time it warns that UK policy responses to drones are lagging those of &leading countries& — suggesting the country could squander the chance to properly develop some early promise.

&The US, EU, China, Switzerland and Singapore in particular have taken bigger steps towards reforming regulations, creating testbeds and supporting businesses with innovative ideas. The prize, if we get this right, is that we shape this new technology for good — and that Britain gets its share of the economic spoils.&

You can read the full report here.

As increasing numbers of electric vehicles are expected to hit the streets, thanks to new models from big automakers soon hitting the market, charging networks likeVolta Chargingare raising new cash to meet the expected demand.

The company today said it raised $35 million from investors led by the Invenergy Future Fund, the technology investment arm of renewable energy project developer Invenergy and Activate Capital(a relatively new $200 million investment fund raised by clean tech veterans including Raj Atluru, Michael DeRosa, Anup Jacob, and David Lincoln).

The San Francisco-based company combines outdoor digital advertising with charging stations to give electric vehicle owners free power. It has already rolled out a network of 1,000 charging stations that are open for sponsorship, and hopes to reach 2,000 by the end of 2018, according to a statement from the company.

Thereprobably nothing more 2018 than ad-supported electric vehicle charging, but Volta may be sitting at the intersection of a few trends that could give the company a charge. Outdoor advertising is one of the only growth markets in the ad-business thatnot online, and itone that investors are beginning to sink dollars into (I wrote about AdQuick, which is another startup looking to take advantage of the newfound interest).

Meanwhile, a study published jointly by the International Energy Agency, the Clean Energy Ministerial and the Electric Vehicles Initiative predicts that the number of electric light-duty vehicles on the road will reach at least 125 million by 2030. More optimistic figures could boost those numbers to 220 million, the study says.

Thata lot of cars that are going to need a lot of charging stations.

Volta rolled out its initial charging stations in Hawaii, but now has expanded its network to include the top 10 media markets in the U.S. (valuable real estate for any would-be advertiser). So far the companysponsored charging stations have given away 22 million miles worth of juice, or the equivalent of 9 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

&Volta distills the surrounding complexity and accelerates the market by executing on consumer preferences that won&t change: free charging in premier convenient locations,& said John Tough, a partner at the Invenergy Future Fund in a statement.

That sentiment was echoed across the companyinvestor base, which has grown with the $35 million Series C round to include a slew of new investors including:GE Ventures, Orsted Venture, Nautilus Venture Partners, and Idinvest all join as new investors.

Initial investorsVirgo Investment Group and Autotech Ventures, also returned to put capital into the company. In allVolta has raised $60 million since it was founded in 2010.

&Volta brings us an opportunity to elegantly advance the intersection of two of our most important sectors & energy and transportation,& said Anup Jacob, Managing Director, Activate Capital. &By leveraging sponsorship to underwrite free charging and infrastructure, Volta has created a unique model to accelerate the future of mobility.&

Ola, Uber chief rival in India, is planning to go public potentially as soon as in three years time, according to its CEO.

Co-founder and chiefexecutive officer Bhavish Aggarwal told the audience at an event inBengaluru last week that seven-year-old Ola is poised to become a cash flow positive business — having recently hit operational profitability — and thata key driver towards a listing. Thatdespite intense rumors of a tie-up with Uber following a spree of global exits from the U.S. firm, most recentlyin Southeast Asia where it struck a deal with local player Grab.

&The ambition for both me and [fellow co-founder]Ankiti[Bhati]has always been to build a sustainable, long-term independent institution,&Aggarwal said atIndia Business Summit & Leaders Speak, a Bengaluru event from ICICI Bank and CNBC-TV18. &In that direction, we are definitely going to IPO. Our goal is to aim for an IPO in about three to four years. We are on that path, our focus on building a sustainable business model [and] a profitable business builds into that ambition.&

Notably, he didn&t specify where a listing might take place for Ola, which was most recently valued at $7 billion following an investment last year.

Doubling down on his belief in building a sustainable and independent business,Aggarwal made a sly dig at Uber in suggesting that the U.S. company is preoccupied with short-term strategies in India.

&The Indian market, which I believe many internet companies don&t fully appreciate, especially the ones who are not Indian, if you give consumers a lot of free things they&ll take it. But the focus has to be to build a long-term sustainable business model… consumers are not price-conscience in India, consumers are value-conscious,& he said.

Despite that, he did acknowledge the role of a strong rival in building Olabusiness over the years. Thereno clear metric to judge which company is ahead, but with its coverage of more than 100 cities and towns in India, Olanumbers are higher than Uber, which has stuck to tier-one and -two locations. Although, anecdotally, the gap is slim in urban areas of the country.

&Competition makes you stronger, we don&t fear competition,&Aggarwal claimed. &We have a much stronger business, strong market position and we&re getting to aplace where we can list the company.&

A deal with Uber has been consistently mooted as part of Uberglobal exitsthat seemed aimed at cleaning up its balance sheet in preparation for a public listing of its own, which CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said is likely in 2019. Then,of course, therethe SoftBank factor. The Japanese firm is a shareholder in both companies, as was the case with Grab, where it is believed to have pushed for a deal with Uber.

While there have been talks, sources on both sides have confirmed to TechCrunch,Aggarwal said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that &so far nobodymade an [acquisition] offer I can&t refuse.&

Uber, on its side, has said it has no interest in more minority deals — which see it leave a market in exchange for equity in the local rival — but that could be gamesmanship or a hint that, in the event of a deal in India, Uber intends to make Ola the minority partner.

Is Ola genuinely aiming for an IPO in three to four years, or are these tactics aimed at dissuadingUber, SoftBank and others from forcing a union with its big rival Thatunclear. Aggarwal reiterated that Softbank is merely an investor, one of many Ola investors, but the questions are sure to continue either way. We&re all just going to have to get used to the speculation.

Article updated to note the name of the event