cities IITians urged to develop passenger drones to help decongest

Mumbai, Dec 31 (PTI) The passenger drones can helpdecongest the choked city roads and students from the premierIITs could do a lot in developing such tools, Minister ofState for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has said.Addressing the Techfest organised by the IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay over the weekend, Sinhasaid the government is working on bringing in regulations forthe drones sector which will help faster and betterdevelopment of such technologies."Drones are a massive opportunity. Like electricvehicles, drones will also use the same electric motors andbatteries, but the only difference is that they will be in thesky. We are working on bringing in some set of regulations fordrones that will help make the technology more progressive,"the minister said.Noting that drones are being used extensively todayfor various applications like delivery, surveillance, andmapping, among others, he said, "People are now working oncreating passenger drones. We also need to develop our owntechnology to grab the massive opportunity in this space."Sinha further said that if developed efficiently, thepassenger drones service can be priced on the lines of faresof the autorickshaws.He also said that there is a huge opportunity forinventions in the fields of electric vehicles and financialtechnology.Citing the example of the Aadhaar and payment app BHIMinitiatives, Sinha said, "Financial technology is one areawhere there is immense scope for innovation. We can developsuch financial products and services that will create sizablecompanies. We have the volumes and scale...we have to build onthat."On the scope in electric vehicles market, he said, "We are the largest exporter of two-wheelers today. If we make progress in the electric vehicles field we can also be the largest exporter of e-cars."

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