Competing for air space - 12th November 2021

These drones are delivering food and drinks in Tel Aviv, Israel. But as more businesses try delivering food and medicine by drones, air traffic is becoming a problem.

Software company HighLander has developed a way to make independent drones fly safely. Alon Abelson, the CEO, tells us why their software is important.

Alon Abelson: "To fly one drone is not an issue. You just give it a sterile area and that's it. We are talking about multi drones that actually communicate between themselves. They are not communicating between themselves because they come from different drone manufacturers, but still they are monitoring with our software and we can make sure they don't collide - landing safely and everything. Exactly like an air traffic controller."

Countries around the world are watching the situation closely. Big companies, like Google, have focused on their own drones. They don't connect with others.

The head of drone services at Israel Innovation Authority, Daniella Partem tells us about the project.

Daniella Partem: "We're trying to create, using the system you see behind us, a managing system that will enable many drones flown by different companies in urban areas, flying together for many usages, such as medical delivery, such as security, such as food delivery."

Israel would like to be at the top again in drone technology globally. The Turkish and Russian armies are leading in drone use. This has forced Israel to use the knowledge of their military air force to develop drone air traffic control.

Delivering food, like ice cream, to customers might be the thing that makes Israel number one again.

Here is the marketing manager of Golda ice cream, Talya Marder.

Talya Marder: "People are always trying to save time. I think the biggest advantage is that you can order and in less than ten minutes you can get your order, something you can't do with bigger vehicles."