S30048 Drone Road User Distraction

National Highways Limited has awarded a contract worth £176,470.49 to Arup for specialist technical consultancy services to research whether drone-road user separation distances can be safely reduced from 50 metres to as low as 10 metres without distracting drivers, as per GG 954 - Drone Operations. The purpose is to enable more frequent drone flights to meet growing business needs, subject to Civil Aviation Authority approval via an Operation Safety Case and acceptance by National Highways' safety review groups. This addresses the current lack of evidence on driver distraction at reduced distances, allowing safer drone use compared to baseline methods as required by GG 104 Safety Risk Assessments.