Four out of five Britons would support the widespread adoption of drones if stringent safety, security and monitoring measures existed, according to a survey for Vodafone.
Public policy consultancy WPI Economics carried out the survey of 2,000 people for the mobile communications company.
It found that 86% support the use of drones for emergency response, 79% for policing and 61% for environmental conservation.
Meanwhile, 92% agreed that drones equipped with cameras could support firefighters through improved imagery from above, and a similar number agreed it could be used in disaster relief operations.
Professor Iain Gray, director of aerospace at Cranfield University, said: “Drones have a wide range of potential uses which are currently under-exploited. The findings of this report are reassuring and show that public opinion is supportive of using drones for a greater variety of tasks, if better safety, security and monitoring measures are in place.”
The results reinforce the findings of a survey carried out for the Department for Transport and published in late 2018, which produced similar figures for emergency responses and policing.
Image from Oxford Direct Services
