Officials in the UK are again demonstrating their willingness – indeed eagerness – to lead the way in adopting a widening array of drone applications with the deployment of UAVs by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) to improve traffic management.
TfWM is broadening its drone fleet and five pilot unit to improve its means of both responding to and preventing incidents that can slow or clog traffic across the central-west UK county. In doing so, it’s replicating far more expensive aerial methods like helicopter monitoring – whose reports are a staple of US morning commuter radio fare – by adding three DJI Matrice 300M enterprise UAVs, which are dedicated to keeping a watch on the area’s larger streets and intersections.
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The drones will be dispatched over the West Midlands road grid – which along with local rail and other UK transport options falls under TfWM’s purview – to survey notorious congestion hotspots for signs of jamming, and for deployment to sites of reported accidents.
Live feeds from the craft are intended to provide managers with better information to initiate remedial response efforts, and keep motorists in the region fully informed about problems as situations evolve.
Though the UK is known (and to some notorious) for its vast network of CCTV cameras providing 24/7 surveillance of public venues across the nation, TfWM says its reinforced drone fleet will permit it to fill gaps in local video coverage, and permit complete mobility of aerial visual perspectives in addressing traffic snarls.
“We’re building on the existing provision of hundreds of CCTV cameras covering our road, rail, and tram networks by bringing drone technology into our repertoire to further improve coverage,” said Andy Street, chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority, under which the TfWM operates its cutting-edge Regional Transport Coordination Centre (RTCC).
“Having a wider aerial view of various scenarios that can be beamed back to the RTCC will enable our traffic managers to make better and faster decisions about how best to deal with incidents – enhancing the travel experience for local people right across our region,” Street added.
The West Midlands – and its new traffic drones – span major UK metropolitan centers including Birmingham, West Bromwich, and Wolverhampton. The TfWM launched the RTCC to improve traffic fluidity across the entire county three years ago, and was credited with keeping people and vehicles moving smoothly throughout last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
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The UK has been active in promoting a wide variety of drone uses by both public agencies and private companies, with many local police and fire forces standing out for their innovative and effective use of UAVs among their response capabilities.
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