Civilian Use of Drones (EUC Report)

Lord Rees of Ludlow Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rees of Ludlow (CB)]

My Lords, this debate is welcome and timely. Although I have recently joined the EU sub-committee, I was not a member at the time of this report, so my comments are independent and perhaps peripheral to the main thrust, although I shall focus entirely on civilian drones.

The report highlights the potential economic and social benefits that could stem from drones and the importance of encouraging the expanding manufacturing and technical advances in the sector. But there are much-publicised downsides, and regulations governing their usage will be hard-pressed to keep up with the pace of innovation. There are plainly civilian contexts where drones can be hugely and unambiguously valuable: in farming, in surveillance, in disaster management and in reaching remote or dangerous locations. Here, there is a clear net benefit. But the report makes clear that the mass market will depend on two developments: first, growth in the amateur and recreational community, whose numbers could run into millions; and, secondly, deployment of small drones in cities and built-up areas for deliveries and so forth. Indeed, there are commercial operators who aspire to use drones to revolutionise online retailing and fast-food deliveries. A US company recently put on the market a miniaturised drone only slighter larger than an iPhone.

I am concerned that the report, in its wish to encourage an emerging high-tech industry, might be underestimating the level of nuisance that could stem from proliferation of these machines. For the larger and longest-range drones, the report accepts that air safety requirements need to be analogous to those required for manned aircraft. It is realistic to expect a high degree of compliance with these rules, because the handlers of these larger machines will be skilled and will be using upmarket and reliable machines. Big drones can be as robust as aircraft, and they can be well instrumented.

However, the situation is surely different for the smaller and cheaper machines. The regulations for their construction and robustness cannot realistically be as stringent. But more than that, my worry is that the level of compliance, even with more relaxed regulations, will not be as high for these small machines as for the bigger drones—not only because of intentional violations but because of mechanical failures, loss of control or errors made by inexpert users. These small and slow-moving drones are vulnerable to winds, turbulence and the unsteady airflows near buildings. Except in very calm conditions, they may prove genuinely hard to control. There is a need to regulate against intrusion and invasion of privacy. There need to be safeguards against them entering prohibited areas or getting too close to buildings. This will be ever more important as numbers proliferate. So even the smallest drone should be required to carry some kind of identification mark so that ownership can be traced.

Some claim that we can be reassured by an analogy with traditional model aircraft enthusiasts, who have pursued their hobby harmlessly for decades. But these people are all skilled and tech-savvy. Moreover, their activities are restricted to open areas suitable for flying, where line-of-sight contact can be reliably sustained. Neither of those requirements will be true for the mini-drones and most of their users. Realistically, as these small drones proliferate into swarms, the likely outcome will be a burgeoning rate of mishaps and infringements of regulations. That will lead to a rising nuisance level for us all and a lot of unproductive time being devoted by police and regulators to dealing with violations—tracking offenders and calling them to account. There are many examples already. In California, pilots engaged in firefighting had to ground their planes when it was reported that five drones were flying around to get close-up views of the fires. In one case, someone attached a small gun to a drone. Such concerns have led to wide debate in the United States and to many different regulations at state level and proposed moratoria on drone use in some cities.

Obviously, there will be pressure from potential pizza deliverers and suchlike against any such ban—and such a ban might indeed be an overreaction. On the other hand, it is unclear what range of uses will be acceptable in built-up areas, where the drones would be automated and not controlled by someone within the line of sight—still less by an expert. There is plainly pressure to exploit the commercial opportunities of what is undoubtedly an exciting new technology. The regulations proposed by the EU may well be balanced and appropriate, but whatever the regulations say, it is surely a safe prediction that there will be many infringements—invasions of privacy, annoyances and accidents, which could sometimes be serious. Indeed, there could then be a public backlash. For that reason, the net benefits, at least of the cheap microdrones, are far from obvious.

Regulations need to achieve a delicate balance between the multiple competing interests of legitimate commercial uses and policing, public safety and privacy concerns, and this has to take place against a background of fast-advancing technology. It would be wrong for regulations to suppress innovation in this area; on the other hand, we should surely recognise that it is not clear how bright the commercial future of this sector is or what degree of welcome these innovations will actually get from the public.