Department of Health (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi, has announced that the Emirate is adopting advanced drones to distribute and transfer medical supplies within the healthcare sector.

Dubai Police has disclosed some of the ambitious and truly revolutionary and innovative measures they plan to introduce to the policing sector in the UAE. Director General of Artificial Intelligence at Dubai Police, Brig. Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi outlined some of the applications it has in the pipeline at the Intersec Artificial Intelligence and Information Security Conference which was held at the Dubai World Trade Center.

Portugal is set to introduce 'free zones' in an attempt to accelerate the development and deployment of self-driving cars and drones in the country. The 'free zones' will also have special regulations which will subsequently allow firms developing driverless technology to test the vehicles in a much more stringent way.

The city of Dubai has signed an agreement which would map out sky lanes for drones and flying taxis.

For China, the beginning of 2020 has been nothing short of a nightmare. The sudden outbreak of the coronavirus has caused Chinese citizens to be overcome with fear and uncertainty. The outbreak, which first occurred in Wuhan, China, has spread like wildfire across the country and has cost the lives of many.

A group of researchers in Japan have suggested that small insect sized drones covered in a coat of horsehair and sticky gel could pollinate crops which would significantly reduce the costly loss of bee populations across the globe. The miniature drones are still a long way off in terms of their production and subsequent introduction into the field, but researchers believe they offer a partial solution to the loss of bees with disease and climate change decimating its population.

Sendai City and Nokia successfully conducted a test flight of a Nokia drone on a private LTE network provided by Nokia Digital Automation Cloud. They tested the potential use of drones during a tsunami or other disasters to help in prevention and mitigation efforts. The test verified that using a private LTE network to control and communicate with the drones is an effective means for enhancing situational awareness and communicating with the affected population during a disaster. This is the first time in the world this type of trial has been conducted.

Singapore has unveiled plans to test drones to complete manual tasks, which could see human workers replaced with AI within the next four years. In a country of just 5.6 million and relying heavily on foreign migrant workers, drones could be a solution to the manpower shortage.

The UK government says it will introduce drone registration and safety awareness courses for owners of small unmanned aircraft (drones). The policy will affect all those who own a drone which weighs more than 250 grams (8oz).

The US government has announced that it is set to refocus its efforts on examining ways in which it can help speed up the process of taking new technologies to the marketplace. The Trump administration has announced its intentions to bring together a group of drone makers, wireless companies and venture capitalists to explore practices that will enable the commercialization of these technologies in a much more streamlined fashion.

Over the past few years, there’s been much speculation about drones and whether they are an asset or a peril to society. However, when it comes to the recent pandemic which has taken the world by storm, drones are being used for the greater good of humanity.