AERIAL DRONES

The days in which unmanned aerial systems were merely open to military use and a few hobby pilots are gone. By now, they have found their way into large parts of airspace. Private recreational use of "drones" has already become downmarket and entire branches of industry are being overturned due to professionalised, commercial use. Industrial inspections, appraisal of real estate and properties and "geo-farming" are considerably simplified by the use of drones, as are parts of risk and claims management of insurance companies.
 
In line with the conception of industry participants from aviation, investment companies, and startups this is expected to be just the beginning. Automation of control systems and air routes progresses at high speed. For years logistic companies have already been developing solutions for simplifying the transportation of goods with the help of drones. The next step will be the development of automated, unmanned passenger transportation in urban areas. The airspace as we have known it until now will undergo drastic changes. Drones are inevitably going to become the new participants of air traffic.
 
This development is not conceivable without the insurance industry being involved. In the near future, urgent issues will arise regarding the risks of this new technology, such as

• loss of control by pilots,
• hardware failure (batteries, rotors, etc.) and/or software failure,
• unapproved/unauthorised film and photo shoots,
• interference with restricted airspace,
• lawfulness of interception of drones by means of private exclusion zones
• risks of war and terrorism,
• cyber attacks to and hacking of possibly autonomous automated drones or drone fleets.

The insurance industry will have to answer all these questions, both for innocent bystanders and industry participants (whether manufacturer, airlines or air passengers) depend on reliable insurance coverage. This particularly concerns issues of

• risk evaluation,
• developing coverage concepts,
• claims handling. 

 
An indispensable change of the regulatory framework is currently taking place due to the technological developments. Just like other states worldwide, the European Union is also working on harmonising the statutory provisions.
 
BLD is one of the first German law firms to deal with drone insurance. We are familiar with aviation liability and hull insurance issues, which we consider when drafting an expertise.
 
However, issues concerning drone insurance can only be tackled by means of an interdisciplinary approach and taking into account liability regimes of different nations. Therefore, BLD is the perfect partner regarding all classes of insurance and is able to offer comprehensive advice, if required also with the help of our internal partners from Legalign Global; particularly concerning 

• issues of product design and development; 
• the examination of already existing insurance programmes and their adjustment to the latest developments of the regulatory framework; 
• particular challenges of German, European, and international air law, aviation liability law and also the specifications regarding aviation insurance;
• the handling of all kinds of liability and hull damages, both national and international; 
• national and international subrogation claims.