Prestigious $20,000 prize awarded to futuristic ‘drone ambulance’

A prestigious $20,000 prize has been won by the designer of a futuristic ‘drone ambulance’. Vincenzo Navanteri, 34, from Italy was awarded the Prince Alvaro de Orleans-Borbon Grant, worth $20,000, at the 2nd FAI International Drones Conference and Expo held in Lausanne on 1 September 2018. He won the grant to help him and his team develop their idea of a self-piloting drone ambulance that could carry a single person for up to 150km at 110km/h. Collecting the award Mr Navanteri, said: “It is a pleasure to receive this grant, and to use it for development. As a company it is what we need. And, more than my own business, it will support the general development of this type of technology.” The award was given to Mr Navanteri for his idea for a drone ambulance for emergency rescue. Navanteri, an engineer, developed the idea of an autonomous “aero ambulance” that could quickly and easily evacuate a single person. www.fai.org