The report points to their use in sectors from construction and energy to defence and logistics, and predicts that upwards of 76,000 unmanned aerial vehicles could be operating in the skies above the UK in just over ten years.
According to the report, drones will replace many existing jobs as they can quickly map, inspect or transport in places that are difficult for people to reach. Drones could start to replace a variety of jobs from stock controllers to helicopter pilots, as they allow speedier visual access of assets such as warehouses and power lines.
Drones are also likely to replace expensive helicopter use in land surveys, according to the report. Remote crop spraying could extend in agriculture to drone monitoring with thermal cameras, to give more data on plant health and irrigation, for example.
PwC predicts cost savings of £16bn annually through their use and estimates that in the long run there will be 628,000 people working in the drone economy, potentially in highly skilled jobs.
According to report author Elaine Whyte: “The advantages of drone technology will be well established within the decade – not only for business purposes but also for helping to protect our society.”
But there are plenty of issues to address before this vision becomes a reality, however.
Current UK drone regulation needs to be updated and while the draft drones bill, going through Parliament, could pave the way for the use of drones in business or public services, will it go far enough?
The drone sector is much wider than, perhaps, many people currently understand.
According to Robert Garbett, CEO of Drone Major and Chairman of the BSI Committee on Drone Standards, “What many will not realise, but what is becoming widely accepted, is that the drone industry is shifting away from being an air focussed industry to one which is breaking down traditional environmental barriers to give rise to a new understanding of the term 'drone'."
What this means is that drones are fast becoming hybrids, that is they can operate across a variety of different environments from ground vehicles that can fly to aircraft which can dive into the sea.
According to Garbett, there are now systems available that integrate surface, underwater and air drone systems, leading to the emergence of a new definition for a 'drone' that now incorporates 'any vehicle, ship, aircraft or hybrid system which is autonomously or remotely controlled’.
This raises two interesting points.
Firstly, is the PwC report actually underestimating the impact of drones on the UK economy? And, secondly, will the legislative response of Parliament be too little, too late?
The rise of hybrid drones certainly suggests that when it comes to addressing the safety and security needs of this fast developing industry, our legislators may well be following, rather than leading, developments in what could prove to be an important sector of the technology economy.
