Drones huddle in flocks – Newspaper Kommersant No. 16 (7461) of 01/30/2023

The White House is multiplying the number of transportation projects under experimental legal regimes (EPRs). The draft government decree prepared by the Ministry of Economy provides for the possibility of using light cargo drones in the IT city of Innopolis (Tatarstan), which already has projects for unmanned vehicles and delivery of parcels by robots. This is not the first such project in Russia. In 2022, the government approved two other EPRs for unmanned aerial systems, the first for the Tomsk region, the second for the northern territories (Chukotka, Kamchatka, KhMAO and YNAO).

Along with the experimental launch of unmanned cargo transportation by land transport (see Kommersant on January 26 about the project for the Moscow-St. The draft government decree prepared by the Ministry of Economy creates the possibility of operating unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in Tatarstan’s Innopolis, known as the “IT city”. We are talking about the use of drones with a maximum take-off weight of no more than 30 kg. The tasks set are aerial work and transportation of goods in the interests of the city administration and other customers. The explanatory note to the draft specifies that the establishment of an EPR regime for this three-year experiment is necessary – the laws of the Russian Federation do not allow or significantly hinder the introduction of such innovations.

It should be noted that EPR for unmanned vehicles (unmanned taxi) is already operating in Innopolis and the Russian Post project has been launched for the delivery of parcels by Yandex.Rover robots, so this city is becoming the leading experimental site for unmanned aerial vehicles.

Five organizations are planning to participate in the new project: BTS Data Center (EPR operator), Rusdronoport, ConverseAVIA Unmanned Systems, Innopolis University and Firm New Information Technologies in Aviation. It is assumed that during the project the work of drone ports will be tested – technical devices that allow automating the operations of takeoff and landing, flight preparation and maintenance of drones. A digital flight service platform will also be tested — it will allow for remote identification and coordination of drones, obtaining permits from local authorities and creating digital twins of drones.

“The key barriers to the mass use of unmanned aerial systems are security issues, the lack of technology development and, as a result, the imperfection of the regulatory framework,” says Tatyana Gorovaya, vice president of the Center for Strategic Research and head of the Public Council under the Ministry of Transport. Note that the authors of the project recognize the emergence of “additional risks to life, health, property of citizens and legal entities” due to drone flights. Another risk is called “illegal physical impact of third parties on drone ports.”

The project on the use of cargo drones in Innopolis is not the first. In March 2022, the government approved a decree on a similar experiment in the northern regions (Kamchatka, Chukotka, Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs). There, drones should be used to deliver mail and cargo, as well as for aerial photography of infrastructure facilities, such as pipelines and power lines. A similar resolution was adopted for the EPR in the Tomsk region – there drones will also be used in agriculture (aerochemical pest control). In addition, in October last year, the Ministry of Economy developed an EPR project for the operation of BAS in Bashkiria, in November – for testing the Aerologistics EPR in the Moscow and Tver regions.

“Together with the Ministry of Economy, we continue to search for new initiatives of Russian business that need to remove regulatory barriers within the framework of the EPR,” says Sergey Plugotarenko, CEO of ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika. According to Tatyana Gorova, since the government supports the development of the use of BAS, “we hope that we will be able to work out all the necessary issues and projects will go beyond experiments.”

Venera Petrova