The UK Civil Aviation Authority has launched a new research initiative to bring together urban air mobility, UTM and ATM companies to work together to explore, emerging concepts in an ‘Innovation Sandbox’ which will allow the authority to develop appropriate regulations.
The new UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Innovation Team, initially funded by a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) grant, has launched the Innovation Sandbox with six participants: UTM company Altitude Angel, air taxi manufacturer Volocopter, Amazon and its future drone delivery system, NATS and Searidge (the air traffic control body NATS and its digital tower partner), NBEC Consortium (Cranfield University and its partners, Blue Bear Systems Research, Thales and Vodafone) and Nesta Challenges – a collaborative engagement with cities, technologists, researchers, regulators, government, public services and the public to shape the future of urban drone use in the UK.
According to the CAA: “The CAA’s innovation team will work closely with the participants to help them understand how they can meet regulatory requirements. Ultimately, this will be one of the elements these innovators will need in order to bring their new aviation and travel products and services to market.”