Reading is the starting point for World's largest drone highway, 'Project Skyway'

Plans to connect the UK via an autonomous drone superhighway have been revealed.

Reading company, UTM (Unified Traffic Management), will spearhead the consortium behind construction and operation of what will be the World's largest autonomous drone super highway, 'Project Skyway.'

The Department for Business, Energy and Strategy (BEIS) InnovateUK backed project is part funded from Future Flight Challenge. Initially stretching 165 miles, the air corridor will link Reading, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Cambridge, Coventry and Rugby via a 500m wide air corridor.

Project Skyway has huge implications for UK connectivity, and industries such as haulage and freight.

The technology has already been tested in the Reading area and is now to be rolled out by 2024.

A monitoring and guidance system known as 'Arrow' will line the route on the ground. It has been developed by another Reading based firm, Altitude Angel. The technology allows for a'' drones to 'plug in' to the autonomous Skyway via their navigation system.

The system utilises BT data, while EE and a number of UK tech start-ups are also involved.

Richard Parker, Altitude Angel, CEO and founder said: “The capability we are deploying and proving through Skyway can revolutionise the way we transport goods and travel in a way not experienced since the advent of the railways did in the 18th century: the last ‘transport revolution’.

"The ARROW® technology we are building here is transformative – it is the basis of Skyway and the only scalable, viable mechanism to start integration of drones into our everyday lives, safely and fairly, ensuring that airspace can remain open, and crewed and uncrewed aviation from any party can safely coexist.

“Skyway gives us not just the opportunity to ‘level up’ access to green transportation across Britain, but we can benefit first and export it globally. We are therefore thrilled to be flying the flag on the global stage for UK Plc.”

"Any drone manufacturer [can] connect a drone's guidance and communication systems into a virtual superhighway system which takes care of guiding drones safely through 'corridors', onward to their destinations, using only a software integration," confirmed Altitude Angel.