When a minor traffic accident brings vehicles to a standstill on an elevated road in Wuhan, Hubei province, help may arrive from an unexpected direction — the sky.
A drone takes off from a nearby automated drone dock, flies to the scene and sends live footage to traffic police. Through its loudspeaker, officers can guide drivers to photograph the accident and move their vehicles to safety, helping clear the road without sending officers to the scene.
The drone is part of Urban Smart Eye, described by its developer as China's first low-altitude drone remote-sensing network to achieve citywide coverage across a megacity.
Traffic control is only one of its jobs, however. The same network can be called upon to inspect construction sites, patrol rivers, monitor farmland or spot signs of forest fires.
Developed by the Wuhan Geomatics Institute, the system comprises 146 automated drone docks across Wuhan, a city covering 8,569 square kilometers. A centralized platform coordinates flights, while artificial intelligence analyzes aerial images and identifies potential problems.
Rather than building separate drone systems for individual agencies, Wuhan has created a shared network serving 16 government departments across more than 50 applications, including traffic management, construction supervision, environmental protection and emergency response.
The approach allows different departments to use the same infrastructure according to their needs, reducing the need for duplicated investment and making better use of equipment that might otherwise sit idle.
The benefits are already visible on Wuhan's busy roads.
In Wuchang district, where daily traffic volume reaches around 900,000 vehicle movements, drones have cut response times from about 20 minutes to less than 10 minutes.
Since August 2025, they have assisted in handling around 400 traffic accidents on elevated roads. About 30 percent were resolved through remote loudspeaker instructions, without requiring police officers to attend the scene.
Making such operations possible requires more than drones and cameras. The system uses a three-dimensional digital map that divides airspace into cubes measuring 10 meters on each side, helping drones plan routes and avoid obstacles. AI algorithms identify suspected illegal construction, smoke and environmental hazards before sending alerts to relevant authorities.
Jiang Wei, a senior engineer at the Wuhan Geomatics Institute, said the network now sees around 300 drone flights a day. Since its launch in August 2024, it has logged more than 470,000 kilometers of flights and 15,000 operating hours.
"These figures show that the network has moved beyond the demonstration stage and entered routine, large-scale operations," Jiang said.
He explained that satellites are useful for surveying vast areas, but their observations can be limited by weather conditions and the time between passes. Drones fill that gap by reaching specific locations quickly and capturing centimeter-resolution images of changes on the ground.
The growing collection of aerial imagery is also creating a continuously updated spatial record of the city, Jiang said, allowing authorities to track changes in land use, construction and the environment, and identify potential risks earlier.
liukun@chinadaily.com.cn
