Drones are set to whizz overhead from early next month as a 6-month trial to deliver NHS supplies and food to the Isle of Wight has been given the green light. The commercial operation – a collaboration between Vodafone, Inteliports and the Isle of Wight Council – will see 8-prop drones flying on a ‘drone corridor’ between Marchwood and Cowes, up to 6 times a day, in a bid to demonstrate the impact drones can have on the Isle of Wight, improving the community’s access to goods and decarbonising Island logistics. Mornington Road car park in Cowes will close from Wednesday 7th August until 7th February next year to enable the Department for Transport-backed scheme to be realised. The drone will fly around 4 miles before landing on a shipping container – a makeshift helipad – at Mornington Road. The parcels will then be taken on their ‘last mile’ delivery via electric cargo bike. It’s hoped that the initiative will cultivate an atmosphere of innovation on the Island, propelling the UK towards its net-zero goals, all the while showcasing a first-of-its-kind, commercial drone network. 
CLEAR FOR TAKE OFF! 6-MONTH CAR PARK CLOSURE AS DRONE DELIVERY TRIAL GREEN LIGHTED
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Maybe car and people carrying drones next. Put ferries out of business!!
No impact to anything? How much are the companies paying the council? A lot more than they would fleece motorists for I bet!
How much car park revenue will be lost (to taxpayers)?
How much is the drone company paying for this?
Stupid idea. let’s see what happens when one ditches into the sea, or is blown off course in a storm. What is the maximum they can carry? not much by the looks of it. How much is it costing too.
I’ve just consulted my book of common sense, it seems to suggest they wouldn’t fly the drone in a storm
NHS management = No common sense.
Our beaches will be awash with paracetamol and suppositories!
Makes a change from cocaine and sanitary towels
On your logic Planes, cars & trains would be banned!
A six-month loss of car parking revenue to IOW Council. I wonder who is going to make up that shortfall?
Worry not – a report today shows that the wonderful IWC workers pension fund has done well. Nothing else matters.
Delivering food? Must be the champagne and caviar for the council meetings!
Trust me, drones are far beyond the experimental stage, or even ‘seeing if it can be done’
Either nonsense, or a cover for other activities.
Well this is the answer to the ferry problem.
When can they take people and cars.
If it’s as reliable as Wightlink, Red Funnel and the Floating Bridge
What can go wrong!
There’s a reason the other trials failed – Other than being able to be independent of the ferries (sometimes) there is little advantage but a lot of problems.
Drones are limited to flying in good weather, heavy rain or even moderate winds are enough to ground them.
Also, the current regulations mandate human operators who maintain visual contact with the drone at all times, severely limiting both their range and operation locations.
That’s even before you take into account the large areas of restricted airspace due to the approaches to Southampton, Bembridge and Sandown airports.
Realistically, this is just a proof of concept for services that will operate in more remote areas of less regulated countries.
Neither Bembridge nor Sandown Airports have restricted airspace as they are not classed as airports, they just have a cautionary warning area round them, as of CAA restricted airspace information map this morning
If it can’t fly between the two hospitals, there’s no point is there?
Probably restricted air space due to the Heli rescue services.
After reading these well-informed comments by world-renowned experts in the field, such as Yam, Irish K Anus, and martin, all parties involved have decided to abandon the trial and to never try anything innovative ever again.
Sadly, the average islander has the IQ of a pygmy shrew and innovation is terrifying to them. I once saw one wet himself the first time he was shown a zip.
Now that is funny
I’m an Overlander so brain is > pigmy shrew. Nothing wrong with the trial per se….Our technology is way beyond ‘line of sight’ for a drone. What about FPV ? Ukraine soldiers love if for delivering a ‘menace’ LOL.
jeez – american reaper drones used in the military carry about 100kg of payload and travel way beyond the line of sight.
very large drones…
The Ehang 184 is the world’s first electric passenger-grade autonomous extra large drone that can accommodate a person weighing up to 220 lbs（100 kg) in its small cabin.
the drone tech, whilst not being in its infancy in general terms, is just about to see the military tech move to the commercial world – which means more and more drones in the skys and more and more goods delivered by them…which also means more and more shot down and the goods stolen by criminals that will adapt – which will mean drone operators needing to fly higher en route.
Brilliant reply, incredibly funny, thank you for injecting some optimism into this conversation
Well, never been anything wrong with buttons, has there. They don’t get stuck, for a start.
If you don’t like islanders, then just f off. It is a waste of money. Full stop.
Brian Gosling. Spot on. Given the reactionary outbursts against anything new or showing initiative, I am quite surprised that a lot of the backwards thinking Neanderthals know how to operate comptooters and the intraweb.
Probably still marvelling at sliced bread.
Some people identify as pygmy shrews, don’t offend them! 😉
Presumably the drone operators will have public liability insurance in place in case of one of these drones crashing and injuring someone or damaging property? Mechanical parts can, and do, fail.
Your mum failed
Pretty unnecessary comment James. It shows how thick, ignorant and pathetic you are I suppose.
Given their track record, it would be more reassuring if the Isle of Wight Council weren’t involved in this at all.
All very exciting when its ones and twos on humanitarian business. But what when it is hundreds of them or thousands? It is the same with the eco cycling craze. Streets filled with thousands of bicycles would be mayhem. In the same vein motoring was pleasant enough fifty or more years ago. Today it is anti-pleasant and to be avoided it at all possible.
Would it not make more sense just to drone straight to the helipad at the hospital who wants to electric bike in the rain from cowes to Newport does not make any sense to me.
Just one step closer to replacing humans with machines. Humans need money and security machines don’t. Governments that don’t need humans won’t see any benefit in supporting them with benefits or finding work for them. Think about it.
I’ve been watching this since Southampton uni said they’d deliver… Seems they’ve proven it’s not cost effective – guess that’s why they stopped their trials? Yet this lot carry on!!! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949899624000030?via%3Dihub
Completely the wrong place for such an important idea. Impacts on local parking, wildlife in Mornington Woods and picnic area, noise and safety.