National Grid Rolls Out Centralised Autonomous Drone Inspections

National Grid has launched the world's first centralised, autonomous aerial inspection capability for electricity infrastructure across its transmission network in England and Wales. The deployment uses sees.ai's drone technology, piloted from a central control room, allowing drones to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) close to live power infrastructure including high-voltage towers (pylons) and conductors (cables). Kathryn Fairhurst, Overhead Line Operations Director at National Grid, explained the operational rationale: 'By handling non-intrusive inspection tasks, this technology enables our highly skilled lineworkers to focus more efficiently on the complex, hands-on work that requires human expertise, and will form an important part of how we continue to manage our assets and deliver a safe and reliable network.' Lord Vallance, UK Science Minister, framed the public-private collaboration: 'Government backing has helped sees.ai develop from early-stage research into a thriving commercial partnership with a major UK company in the National Grid, keeping energy workers safe and demonstrating the benefit of public investment in pilot tech projects.' The technical milestone follows a four-year innovation programme and builds on the UK Civil Aviation Authority's October 2024 policy concept that enabled drones to fly BVLOS at low heights close to infrastructure where there is little or no potential for other aircraft to be operating. The deployment marks the transition from R&D to business-as-usual operations. Sophie O'Sullivan, Director of Future Safety & Innovation at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, noted: 'We're working with companies like sees.ai and National Grid to make drone operations beyond visual line of sight a safe and everyday reality.' According to the release, the system uses AI and machine learning to optimise the inspection data it captures, increasing the speed, efficiency and consistency of data processing. It is intended to reduce the risk and environmental impact of other methods of data capture and to free skilled line workers and helicopter crews for specialist tasks that need human expertise.