LED Escort Drones
 

Something totally unexpected, a fleet of Drones with LED lights, these would be great to have traveling with a Peloton:

I could have used that the other night when I thought I could get one more ride before I charged my headlight...I was wrong and it was a dark ride home in the country. lol

FAA wouldn't like that at all

Can't I just ride my bike without all the drama?

Class G airspace isn't regulated. The new UAV rules seem to dip down into Class G a bit, but these things would be so low and so close to the operator, I don't see any issues.

That's cool!

..and provide renewed interest in The X-Files reruns. :)

No they wouldn't.

On Eurosport they have a WattsZap segment, of nothing but quadcopters at sporting events crashing into either competitors or patrons....either due to glitches or operator stupidity or weather.

What's the battery life of the average drone nowadays? 20 minutes?

For certain more than one in a group would cause nothing but confusion unless they were all tied to the same very smart operating system/program.

Biggest issue is what happens when they fail. Will they fall on the riders? Will they fall in a group of spectators and cost the ride organization a big lawsuit that will make events already on a shoestring disappear?

Not necessarily being a nay-sayer, but those and other things need to be addressed.

FAA excluesion zone would prevent them from flying with out notification. You would be surprised at the number of private landing areas that you need to notify in order to fly a drone.

Fall on the riders like this?
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/videos...clist-mid-race

And yes, the battery life makes the whole premise pie-in-the-sky currently.

it would take a many-fold increase in battery energy density to make this anything other than a short-duration curiosity.

"Ever have several escort drones with LED lights escort you along a dark country road at night? You Will."

-AT&T

I'd like one that does 40mph during daylight around blind corners to alert me of road hazards and has a 3hr runtime.

One can dream, right?

I was in that race, about 5 wheels up from the guy who went down. We were not happy.

it's pretty clear that person hadn't flown much, they really should have been arrested

They need a second drone that refuels the first one, in mid-air, like the Air Force used to do with B-52's. Either that or some better batteries. :rolleyes:

Oe buy more drones so one can replace the other before its battery dies ..

Formula E, electric F1 cars , driver jumps in the 2nd fully charged car, to finish the race ..

British, when some git flying drones, closed down flights @ LGW & LHR were not happy either..

At best you'd be targeted by a squad of FA-16s. At worst, by farmer Joe Brown and his alien eliminating shotgun.

Great workout for my new Perazzi. :D

I was riding up a hill at night when I heard the unmistakable sound of a nearby quadcopter starting up. It immediately hit some foliage and crashed. As an RC pilot myself, I'm pretty familiar with these sounds. I never saw it or the pilot, but I did laugh at them and insult their intelligence. I'm sure they were either going to harass me with it or shoot video. Either way, I'm pretty happy it crashed quickly and not into me.

I would not recommend doing this, though it makes an interesting video. Note he said he did not use the follow mode; if that worked it would be a little more practical.

I want to get a fleet of these for my next ride around Gatwick.

Darth Vader had better drones.