Amey has set up a joint venture with drone specialist VTOL Technologies for infrastructure survey work.

Above: The Flying Wing

The aim is to be able to introduce a new level of surveying technology by 2018.

AmeyVTOL will use its own patented unmanned autonomous drone, known as The Flying Wing, which carries ground penetrating radar, high definition video and still, infrared, thermal and light detection and ranging sensors.

The Flying Wing can take off and land anywhere, travel long distances at speeds of up to 60km/h and change direction to map the same route over and over, regardless of weather conditions. It also captures data in real time and streaming it live to a data processing engine.

AmeyVTOL service development director Richard Butterfield said: “Using this cutting-edge technology to inspect the vital infrastructure that we all rely on is a world first. It will change the way we inspect assets forever; allowing us to assess at the touch of a button, make real-time recommendations and potentially save millions of pounds for our clients.”

AmeyVTOL director Mark Shaw added: “Our unique and patented Flying Wing outperforms existing drones and represents the future of aerial inspections. We’re really excited to be introducing this market-leading technology which will revolutionise the asset management industry to deliver repeatable, consistent and accurate inspections as early as 2018.”

AmeyVTOL is launch the partnership at the 2016 Farnborough Airshow this week.