Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) has designed and engineered a new Land Rover Discovery complete with aerial drone for use by the Austrian Red Cross.
‘Project Hero’ was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.
SVO collaborated with the Austrian Red Cross to develop a Land Rover that will be trialled by their emergency response teams. It is hoped it will help the Red Cross save lives by speeding up response times to disasters.
Project Hero is the first project with a roof-mounted drone. It features a fully integrated landing system featuring self-centring and magnetic retention technology.
With the drone airborne, live footage can be transmitted to the Red Cross’s emergency response teams, helping them respond more effectively to landslides, earthquakes, floods and avalanches.
The drone’s bird’s-eye view will allow rescuers to investigate an emergency scene from a safe distance.
In addition to the drone technology supplied in Project Hero, the rear of the interior in the vehicle also features a heavy-duty sliding floor in the rear load space, which may be deployed as an additional work surface, or to protect the load carried underneath.
Project Hero will be based at the Austrian Red Cross training centre in Erzberg, in the mountainous Eisenerz mining area, and in Vienna, for 12 months from June 2017.
The drone will be used in simulations to develop new techniques for disaster relief and on test-runs for complex natural disaster scenarios, including at night and in dense forests.
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