Drones - the next big thing in cycle safety, or a case of too much blue sky thinking?

I like the idea of drones for self-filmed efforts. I'm not talking about 4 hours of plugging away on the road but if a drone could actually follow you and keep you in shot at the trails or on a DH run that would be pretty cool particuarally if it could fly alongside you too given different camera angle options.

As for keeping you safe on the road they'd be pretty useless. They might capture some more usefull footage than a helmet cam in some conflict situations but I suspect that the reverse could also be true depending on the circumstances.

The only thing that motorists will take any notice of in order to safeguard a peaceful ride anywhere is a police motorcycle outrider.

Even then given the fact that you can unbelievably attain 40+ points and still be allowed to operate arguably the world's most efficient killing machine even this has limited value in some areas.

I don't see why, given the very blatant disregard and utter refusal of government to do anything to control vehicle driven genocide, that anyone wishing to go for a ride cannot call the police and request a motorcycle escort on the grounds that they believe their journey is likely to result in threat and/or harm.

If they refuse and you are subsequently injured you can take retrospective action for their failure to take your concerns seriously and allowing you to come to preventable harm.

Yeah, I know...but if someone called the police fearing harm and then went for that walk and got hurt as suspected are the police culpable in any way? Social workers and Baby P, NHS and rogue surgeons...all public bodies with responsibility to the public who failed to prevent foreseeable harm through lack of action.

If government, as they seem to be, are that hell bent on fostering obesity and car centred societies at all cost then surely the cost of protecting vulnerable road users is something they should factor in.

Yes I'm pushing boundaries but I remain hesitant to believe that there is no legal challenge or loophole the vulnerable can't employ to demand government affords us the protection we clearly need so desperately.

This is clearly rot, but I reckon small camera drones (with their small downdraft) could offer an interesting option for filming bike races.

Fly along a pre-programmed route. Brilliant. So if you change your mind on the way home and go a different way, or a road closure or accident forces you to detour, the drone just continues on its merry way without you?

And there is actually a way that exists at present to get a large bright light a few meters ahead of you in the road to alert vehicles of your presence. Yeah, it's called a light.

Great technology. Sh!t deployment. Think bigger guys, c'mon.

The problem we have with drivers is not the lack of drones.

In 99% cases it's that either we are not visible enough to them (which can be easily fixed with proper lights and clothing) or their stupidity (or in some cases ours, I'm afraid), which can't be fixed by any means other than strict enforcement of the law.

We don't really need drones here.

Drone manufacturers marketing dept:

'Right chaps, these drones of ours are getting a bad rep...so here's the plan:

We need to link the use of drones to as many things as you can possibly think of which don't involve killing innocent people. Make them seem shiny and futuristic and not in any way morally reprehensible...the media are sure to go along with this...

...any ideas?

Delivering stuff? Yes, good.

Following cyclists? Erm...bit weird but, ok, we'll give it a try...'

'how cool would it be to have a couple of those, mount a couple of camera's and record your rides like the pro's get filmed, editing out the boring stuff and focusing on the cool, hard...etc'

Watching your own riding. Wow. Surely there are better things to do with your time...

There's already too much tech for my liking. The beauty of cycling is its simplicity and its economy

If I had to start employing hi tec micro UAVs then I would probably just take the car.

What I love about cycling is just doing it. No speedos, no video cameras, no strava, no GPS. Just me a road and a bike.

I thought "cyclodrone" was the word used to describe Andrew Gilligan's speeches...

“The Cyclodrone is a flying beacon that can be configured to fly ahead of and behind a bicycle rider on roads to improve visibility..."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't two or four wheeled drone (the size of human) rather than flying one (of tiny size) provide better visibility.

This one is useless imho...

Arm that with a few Hellfires and it would definitely make countryside riding safer; nothing would keep cars/lorries honest like the thought of a few thousand flechettes zapping at you if you play silly buggers

could resemble a swarm of bees on an impromptu club run / meet up too.….

Oh yes and don't forget the New Forest "factor" - I'm sure someone there can find 101 reasons to call foul.

There's a few drones on this site already!

I've got a few quadcopters of these although technically only one is a "drone", the others are simple radio controlled multi-rotors.

They've used them for filming at the Indoor BMX Track in Manchester and you can see a filming run here on the DH track at Antur Stiniog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wih58t6yqs8

That was filmed with a pilot and a camera operator - the challenges of getting one to follow pre-determined tracks without hitting obstacles and while keeping the rider in view mean that auto-following quads are a way off yet. And as gmrza mentioned, battery life on mine is about 12 minutes at best.

All very well for perfect, calm weather.

I can't see such a drone surviving my last ride: 20mph gusts and hail.

Or they could just use their eyes...just sayin.

Quote:

these drones could surely be put to better use than this?

Already have...killing innocent people around the world by mistake it seems, perhaps they will really take riders out instead - no more problem for "them".

these drones could surely be put to better use than this?

I want one with enough power to carry the contents of my jersey pockets. Heck, add extra clothing and spare wheels too. In fact, give it a loudspeaker with motivational messages, and an ability to hand you gels on the move! Would be like being accompanied by your very own DS!

There seems to be a very simple issue that has been overlooked: battery life. Most current small drones (quadrocopters etc.) can fly for somewhere in the region of tens of minutes at most. (In some cases only 10 minutes.) A pretty big battery would be needed for my 1h15m commute.

Did I sleep to long, its not April 1st is it?

I think its "pie in the sky" thinking, more than "blue sky".....

That being said, how cool would it be to have a couple of those, mount a couple of camera's and record your rides like the pro's get filmed, editing out the boring stuff and focusing on the cool, hard...etc

p.s. If you ever got something like this into the office, I bugsy first shot and review time of it