UK set for world’s largest and longest drone superhighway

With its international headquarters in Reading, Altitude Angel has developed UTM (Unified Traffic Management) technology that provides the software and infrastructure required for drones to fly safely, without a pilot, over large distances.

The £5m deal with Etc. - the incubation team in BT Group’s Digital unit - will accelerate Altitude Angel’s roll-out of its ARROW technology, which detects and identifies drones, while also enabling drones to share the airspace with crewed aviation.

The deal gives Altitude Angel the opportunity to scale its technology to allow long distance drone flights, supporting the potential for faster delivery of essential and non-essential items and unlocking an industry estimated by PwC to be worth £45bn by 2030. The deal also supports the use of drones in assisting emergency services with real-time search and rescue, fast transportation of medical supplies, farming analysis, and architectural planning.

In a statement, Richard Parker, CEO and founder of Altitude Angel said: “With BT Group, Altitude Angel has a partner which shares its ambition to make automated commercial drone operations at scale in the UK a day-to-day reality. Combining our ARROW technology…with BT Group’s significant communications infrastructure, we can quickly bring ARROW to the masses. This will provide the UK with the first nationwide drone superhighways, unlocking the potential of this new and innovative technology.”