Using drones to transform working practices could boost Britain’s economy by £42bn by 2030, research claims.
Increased use of drones, in sectors from construction or defence to energy or logistics, will employ hundreds of thousands of people and lift GDP by almost 2%, according to a report by accountants PwC.
While pilots and police have often viewed drones as a problem, the report predicts 76,000 unmanned aerial vehicles will be in UK skies by the end of the next decade for commercial or public use, saving billions in efficiencies.
It says many existing jobs will go, with drones able to quickly map, inspect or transport in places that are difficult for people to reach. Drones are likely to replace posts from stock controllers to helicopter pilots as they allow speedier visual access of everything from giant warehouses to power lines.
Already used widely in utilities to inspect infrastructure, drones are likely to replace expensive helicopter use in land surveys, the report says, while oil rig inspections have become safer and cheaper using the devices. Remote crop spraying could extend in agriculture to drone monitoring with thermal cameras, to give more data on plant health and irrigation than is visible to the human eye.
PwC predicts cost savings of £16bn annually through their use and estimates that in the long run there will be 628,000 people working in the drone economy, potentially in more highly skilled jobs overall, including building and programming the devices.
Elaine Whyte, of PwC, said: “Drones have the potential to offer a powerful new perspective for businesses across a variety of industries, delivering both productivity benefits and increased value from the data they collect.
“I envisage that the advantages of drone technology will be well established within the decade – not only for business purposes but also for helping to protect our society, for example, through being used by the emergency services. There is a need for current UK drone regulation to advance to see the estimations in our report become a reality but it’s positive to see the government already taking proactive steps to address this with the draft drones bill.”
The draft bill was due to be published this spring. The government said it would pave the way for drone use in business or public service but also help police crack down on their misuse after concerns about privacy and safety, particularly for planes.
Last week pilots and air traffic controllers issued new guidelines on drones to their members in response to a growing risk that they said regulation was so far failing to address. Many thousands have been sold for leisure users and pilots have reported dozens of near collisions around airports. In 2017 there were 92 official reports of incidents involving drones and planes, with some near misses on large passenger jets, which the pilots union Balpa said had the potential to cause catastrophic accidents.
Whyte conceded that drones were still often seen as toys, adding: “The immediate focus must be on developing society’s confidence in the technology to help drive acceptance and increase adoption. There is a huge opportunity to help solve some of business and society’s most important problems.”
The aviation minister Baroness Sugg said drones would bring significant economic benefits and the government was attempting to harness their potential through its industrial strategy. She added: “They are already improving people’s lives – helping the emergency services and keeping key national infrastructure like rail lines and power stations safe. Excitingly this is just the beginning.”