Jaguar Land Rover Boosts Factory Safety and Efficiency by 95% in Drone Inspection Pilot Programme

JLR’s Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre (EPMC) located in Wolverhampton in the UK, has been trialling the use of the Elios 3 drone for inspections. This successful pilot programme is an important step forward in improving operational efficiency and employee safety and aligns with JLR’s vision for factory management in the future. 

During this pilot at EPMC, JLR has seen that projects that use the Elios 3 can cut the inspection time from four hours to 10 minutes - an improvement of 95%. The drone’s ability to reach high and confined spaces, while the maintenance teams remain safely on the floor, eliminates the need for elevated platforms and reduces risk. The drone’s speed of operation and safety improvements result in reduced downtime, also freeing up employee time for additional business-critical tasks. 

Nigel Blenkinsop, Executive Director of Industrial Operations, said: “As we transform our facilities, we’re rethinking every part of our factories, including how we maintain and operate them. Trials like this one with advanced drone technology are helping us improve employee safety, reduce maintenance downtime, and operate more efficiently. Just as importantly, they’re helping upskill our people in the latest digital technologies, ensuring our teams are part of our factories of the future.”  

JLR highlighted the Elios 3’s ability to work indoors, the SLAM-based LiDAR, and the thermal camera as features that make it appropriate for this type of application.

Members of the JLR team are getting to grips with flying the Elios 3 inside their facilities

This pilot programme supports JLR’s Reimagine strategy and Future Skills Programme, where they aim to train employees with the latest digital and electrification technologies. Shantnu Mehta, Project Engineer at JLR, said: “I never imagined I’d be learning to fly drones as part of my role. It’s been exciting to learn how to use this technology, and the skills I’ve developed will stay with me throughout my career. Being part of such an innovative project and contributing to how we’re transforming our factories for the future is something I’m genuinely proud of.” 

The initiative is part of JLR’s £18bn investment over the five‑year period from FY24 and is being explored through its Open Innovation programme, which aims to accelerate next-generation technology and sustainability by collaborating with start-ups, scale-ups, and like-minded external organisations. 

Following the success of this pilot programme, JLR’s Logistics Operations Centre (LOC) in Solihull will be the next location to trial the Elios 3. The vast warehouse space at LOC is equivalent to thirteen football pitches, around 91,800 square meters. The drone will be equipped with barcode scanners to automate inventory checks, replacing manual processes and enabling faster, more accurate stock updates. This will improve safety, reduce errors, and support better decision-making related to managing space, stock levels, and supply flow. Warehouse management of this nature is a growing use case for the Elios 3, and Flyability looks forward to the continued collaboration with JLR to explore how the Elios 3 can help support their optimization of facility management.

The efforts of both Flyability and JLR have been supported by Flyability's local partner, Coptrz, who are the official reseller for Flyability in the UK. 

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For media enquiries at Flyability, please contact media@flyability.com 

For media enquiries at JLR, please contact jlrmedia@jaguarlandrover.com 

The original press release related to this story can be found on the JLR website. 

About JLR

JLR’s Reimagine strategy aims to deliver a sustainability‑rich vision of modern luxury by design.

We are transforming our business with the aim to become carbon net zero across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039. Electrification is central to our strategy and before the end of the decade our brands will each have a pure electric model, while Jaguar will be entirely electric.  

The flexibility of our unique powertrain technologies means we can continue to offer hybrid and ICE vehicles in our ranges as we begin to roll out full BEV options, to match demand in the global transition to electric.  

At heart we are a British company, with two design and engineering sites, two vehicle manufacturing facilities, a components and finishing facility, an electric propulsion manufacturing centre, and a battery assembly centre in the UK. We also have vehicle plants in China (joint venture), Slovakia, India, and Brazil, as well as seven technology hubs across the globe.   

JLR is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors Limited, part of Tata Sons.

Media Enquiries: 

James Rowe

Global JLR PR Manager (Enterprise)    

External Corporate Communications  

E: jrowe7@jaguarlandrover.com

Linda Luong 

Global JLR Senior PR Officer (Enterprise)   

External Corporate Communications  

E: lluong@jaguarlandrover.com