I expect that this increase will appear sooner then we expect it to do: the use of drones in the city. If you have a look at the multiple possibilities. Add to this the developments of the last fifteen years. Compare today’s drone to the first Apple computer of fifteen years ago. What could this computer do fifteen years ago and what can it do nowadays…

In the development of drones I expect the same kind of improvement/expansion. If we are able to see all the appliances of drones this development will be like the development of personal computers. Drone use should not only actively look into package deliveries (like DHL en UPS) but expand a broader use from operation and management of buildings in public space.

Safety checks on places we don’t have easy excess to (like bridges and high buildings, but also undergrounds like the sewers and the subway). That is the start of it. The next step will be a drone equipped with a welder and/or a paint spray. This way drones can fix things at the spot.

To arrange all of these ideas properly, we will have to focus on the right regulations. Not only prohibitions on behaviour that is not allowed – but mainly from a positive point of view: the right facilitation of all these new appearing devices and machinery.

We will have to do the same for self-driving cars, especially on national level. To get this all started these kind of experiments have to be facilitated  by companies and public organisations (like care takers and public service).

The sooner the better, preferably tomorrow!