A Jetstream aircraft became the first to fly “unmanned” across UK shared airspace last month. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22511395 During the 500-mile journey, the specially adapted plane was controlled by a pilot on the ground. The 16-seater aircraft flew in airspace shared with passenger carriers. Known as “the Flying Testbed”, it contains on-board sensors and robotics to identify and avoid hazards. “Although there is still work to be done it would seem that, on the basis of the success of this flight, a UAV could operate in different classes of airspace.” It is the latest in a series of test flights carried out by Astraea (Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Assessment), which has received £62m funding, from commercial companies and the UK government, to research how civilian unmanned aircraft could fit in to shared airspace.
“It’s not just the technology, we’re trying to think about the social impact of this and the ethical and legal things associated with it,”