RENAULT CONCEPT CAR COMES WITH A FLYING DRONE THAT CAN SCOUT THE ROAD AHEAD

 Check out the Renault Kwid’s built-in drone system. It’s a concept car, nowhere near production, but maybe there’s something to the French automaker’s idea of equipping a car with its own surveillance bot that can scan the road ahead.

After all, in the next few years we will see an explosion in the number of drones in our skies, from hobbyist models to Jeff Bezos’ delivery drones to the more ominous surveillance drones that have privacy groups rightfully concerned.

In the U.S., the FAA will likely slow, but not stop, expansion in drone use. But the Kwid, first shown this week at the Delhi auto show, is targeted at developing nations, where sending an aerial scout out to monitor road conditions or safety could definitely come in handy.

Of course, it’s easy to imagine some uses from a trunk-launched UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, or “Flying Companion,” as Renault calls it) here in our own backyard. Scoping out traffic jams and parking spots? A cinch with your airborne companion. Who needs a periscope, anyway?

There’s a tablet inside the Kwid concept that lets you control the Companion remotely or just let it do its thing autonomously via pre-programmed sequences.