Flock is Building a Risk Assessment Platform for Drone Flights
Flock, a London-based startup specializing in big data, is tackling the challenges of drone flight safety by creating a real-time risk assessment platform. This platform leverages AI to analyze urban data, such as building locations, pedestrian and vehicle movements, and weather conditions, to predict potential risks during drone flights.
Flock’s platform doesn’t focus on object detection for sense-and-avoid systems. Instead, it uses licensed data to perform cost-benefit analysis, helping insurers determine premiums and drone operators decide whether to proceed with a flight. This initial product is designed to be used in real-time.
Looking ahead, Flock intends to integrate machine learning algorithms into its platform to generate “real-time risk reduction” for drone operators. This feature will use predictive assessments for drone flight scheduling, potentially enabling fully autonomous flights along optimized, low-risk routes.
“The idea is to have a robust trend analysis built in to the system,” explains Ed Leon Klinger, Flock’s CEO. “We can analyze historical data, understand city dynamics, and predict how populations and traffic conditions change over time. This allows us to calculate the optimal route and time for drone flights, maximizing efficiency for logistics and minimizing external risk.”
Currently, Flock is still building its platform, aiming for an MVP launch within six months. They plan to partner with insurance and drone companies to run pilot schemes once the MVP is operational. While Flock is not yet disclosing the source of its city inhabitant movement data, the company is funding development through bootstrapping, R&D grants from Innovate UK, and a current seed round.
Flock’s approach distinguishes itself from existing solutions like AirMap. AirMap, which recently raised a $16 million Series A round, focuses on providing drone operators with airspace information for flight planning. While AirMap also utilizes real-time data, such as weather and traffic alerts, Flock’s emphasis on real-time urban data analytics for risk assessment sets it apart.
Flock’s ambition is to become an integral part of the global autonomous drone ecosystem. They envision their platform as a provider of contextual data, ensuring safe drone operations in urban environments.
“In four or five years, we want to be embedded in every single autonomous drone globally,” says Klinger. “We want to be the company that’s providing contextual data in cities and urban environments generally, and keeping drones safe.”
