An automatic system is programmed to operate without a human providing inputs for each operation.
There are plans for 165 miles of drone superhighway that will link airspace over the Midlands and the south of England. This will enable a range of activities, such as the delivery of vaccines and blood samples and support for search and rescue missions, to be carried out using drones piloted by computers.
In a separate initiative, a team is developing a system of drones that can carry resuscitation (CPR) equipment and communication technology to heart attack patients. An ambulance will not be required to deliver the CPR equipment. Drones can navigate through available airspace, meaning that they will not be caught in traffic jams, and they do not require a human pilot. This initiative has the potential to increase the speed and lower the cost of every delivery of CPR equipment. If the same amount of money spent on delivering CPR equipment by ambulance over a year is spent on drone deliveries, the number of drone deliveries can potentially increase too.
Impact
Through the introduction of remote medical deliveries, the cultural practices of a society's health service can be adapted so that remote communities can be better served, health professionals can be redeployed to concentrate on other tasks, access to healthcare can be improved, and life expectancy can be increased.
What ethical considerations arise from the use of CPR equipment drones? Taking a wider view, some are concerned that people who are present in this situation may not be confident with the use of the technology, or may rely too heavily on the technology, or the CPR they would otherwise give while waiting for the drone could be interrupted. Therefore, introducing this sort of technology could cause harm to some people.