How AI View Group is Transforming Italian Highway Monitoring using Autonomous Docked Drones

AI View Group has established itself as a leader in the Italian drone services market with over a decade of experience in the transportation sector. The company employs more than 30 full-time staff plus an extended professional network, and recently joined the Highten Group as part of their European regional office. With expertise in certified piloting, technology development, and artificial intelligence, AI View Group has built an impressive track record with over 3,000 remote drone missions conducted for traffic monitoring alone. Their commitment to driving digital transformation in autonomous operations has made them a trusted partner for Italy's largest infrastructure companies.

During one of the NestGen ‘25 sessions, we spoke with Nicola Marietti, CEO of AI View Group, an Italian company specializing in unmanned technology operations that blend safety and efficiency. Founded in 2012, AI View Group has positioned itself as a pioneer in aerial intelligence, helping enterprise clients adopt drone technology into their operational and maintenance processes. Here's what they had to say about revolutionizing highway inspections with autonomous drones 👇
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"Highway operators face significant challenges in maintaining real-time awareness across hundreds of kilometers of roadways, especially during peak traffic periods or emergencies." - Nicola Marietti, CEO, AI View Group

Italy's highway network operators struggled with several critical operational challenges:

• Limited Visibility: Fixed cameras provided only partial coverage of the highway network, leaving many sections without real-time monitoring capabilities, especially at key congestion points and remote areas.
• Delayed Response Times: Without immediate aerial visibility of incidents or traffic conditions, emergency response teams often deployed with incomplete information, increasing intervention times and safety risks.
• Infrastructure Monitoring Gaps: Traditional inspection methods couldn't efficiently detect developing infrastructure issues like damaged barriers, road surface deterioration, or safety hazards before they became critical failures.
• Resource Constraints: Manual inspection of vast highway networks required significant personnel and time investments, with inspectors often working in dangerous proximity to high-speed traffic.

These challenges resulted in increased accident risks, traffic congestion costs, and maintenance inefficiencies across Italy's critical transportation infrastructure.

AI View Group developed an integrated autonomous drone system called ReADI (Remote Autonomous Drone Intelligence Command and Control Center) to address these challenges. The solution combines strategically positioned dock drone stations along highways with centralized remote piloting capabilities and AI-powered analytics.

The system architecture integrates several key components:
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1. Hardware Infrastructure: Various drone models including medium-range units like Matrice 300 RTK and M30T, along with long-range VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) drones for extended coverage. Each drone is housed in a secured docking station positioned at strategic highway locations such as toll gates and service areas.
   
2. Command and Control Software: The FlytBase platform serves as the core flight management system, enabling remote piloting, mission planning, and integration with UTM (Unmanned Traffic Management) services.
   
3. AI Analytics Layer: Custom-developed algorithms process drone-captured data for traffic analysis, anomaly detection, infrastructure inspection, and emergency response coordination.: The system connects directly with highway operators' traffic control rooms, displaying drone footage on video walls alongside data from traditional fixed cameras and providing automated alerts.
4. Integration Framework: The system connects directly with highway operators' traffic control rooms, displaying drone footage on video walls alongside data from traditional fixed cameras and providing automated alerts.
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The operational workflow follows a structured process:

1. The system operates in two modes: scheduled routine flights and on-demand emergency deployments.
   
2. For routine monitoring, drones execute pre-programmed flight patterns to collect traffic data, inspect infrastructure, and verify roadwork safety compliance.
   
3. During emergencies, traffic control room operators can deploy drones via radio communication with AI View's remote pilots who launch units to the incident location within minutes.
   
4. Live video feeds transmit directly to highway operators' control rooms while AI algorithms simultaneously analyze the footage to detect vehicles, assess traffic flow, identify infrastructure damage, and highlight safety hazards.
   
5. The system generates automated reports and alerts based on the drone observations, allowing highway managers to make informed decisions about resource deployment, traffic management, and maintenance priorities.

AI View Group's implementation strategy began with a pilot project called "FALCO" with Autostrade per l'Italia, Italy's largest highway operator. The initial deployment included five docking stations installed at strategic toll gates and service areas, allowing commuters to witness the drones monitoring highway conditions. After demonstrating success with the first operator, AI View expanded the program to a second major Italian highway company with two additional docking stations.

The implementation process followed a methodical approach:
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1. Site analysis to determine optimal positioning of docking stations based on historical incident data and coverage requirements
2. Hardware selection and deployment tailored to each location's specific monitoring needs
3. Integration of the ReADI control center with existing traffic management systems
4. Development and training of AI modules using location-specific data collection
5. Securing regulatory approvals, culminating in AI View becoming one of the first companies to obtain an LUC (Light UAS Operator Certificate) for remote drone operations without on-site observers

A significant implementation challenge involved addressing cybersecurity concerns, as highway infrastructure falls under Europe's NIS2 (Network and Information Systems) regulations for critical infrastructure protection. AI View Group developed comprehensive security protocols to ensure compliance while maintaining system reliability.

The ReADI system has delivered measurable benefits across multiple operational areas:
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Enhanced Response Capabilities: The drone network has dramatically reduced incident detection and response times. Highway operators now deploy emergency services with precise information about accident conditions, vehicle positioning, and optimal access routes. During emergencies, the drones provide continuous 30-minute aerial surveillance, giving management teams unprecedented situational awareness.

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Improved Traffic Management: Real-time aerial monitoring allows highway operators to detect traffic congestion patterns and proactively implement mitigation measures. The system's analytics provide traffic composition data (car/truck ratios) and flow metrics that help operators optimize traffic management decisions, particularly in areas with ongoing roadworks.
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Infrastructure Integrity: The regular drone inspections have identified numerous previously undetected infrastructure issues, including damaged crash barriers, developing surface cracks, and safety hazards. By catching these problems early, highway operators can schedule preventive maintenance before issues escalate into costly emergency repairs or safety incidents.
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Operational Integration: Perhaps most significantly, the technology has become fully integrated into daily operations rather than functioning as an occasional service.
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As Nicola Marietti explains: "This is the real part and the most important part of the project – not giving them a simple drone. Our goal is to let them introduce unmanned technology in their operations, and this is what we did with this customer."

The solution's value has been clearly demonstrated through its consistent usage in the highway operators' traffic control centers, where it now functions as an essential operational tool rather than supplementary technology.

AI View Group anticipates deploying approximately 50 dock drone stations across Italian highways in the coming year, significantly expanding the network's coverage and capabilities. The company is also enhancing its AI modules to detect additional infrastructure issues and provide more sophisticated traffic analysis. Future development will focus on increasing autonomy in operations, building on the regulatory milestone of securing LUC certification for operations without on-site observers.

As Nicola explains: "Autonomous means a lot of things that need to be developed in the next time. But today, we are starting to be autonomous because we are creating the first pillar of information for autonomous operations related to the infrastructure."

The company sees these highway implementations as establishing the foundation for fully autonomous drone operations in critical infrastructure settings, with each successful deployment providing valuable data to inform both technical and regulatory progress.

AI View Group's implementation of the ReADI system demonstrates how autonomous drone technology can address critical infrastructure monitoring challenges while delivering tangible operational benefits. By integrating drone capabilities directly into existing traffic management workflows, the company has helped Italy's highway operators improve safety, response times, and infrastructure maintenance efficiency.
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"The most important achievement is to convince the customer that the system is not just technology for technology's sake – it's a tool that solves real problems and becomes an essential part of their operational processes" - Nicola Marietti, CEO, AI View Group

Q1. What is the maximum operational range of drones in the highway monitoring system?
The drones can operate up to three kilometers in each direction from their docking station, providing coverage of approximately six kilometers of highway per installation. The elevated perspective allows visual monitoring of 10-12 kilometers of roadway when positioned at optimal vantage points.
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Q2. How does AI View Group address regulatory requirements for autonomous drone operations?
AI View Group has secured one of Italy's first Light UAS Operator Certificates (LUC) for remote drone operations without on-site observers. This certification required demonstrating comprehensive safety protocols, reliable communication systems, and cybersecurity measures compliant with NIS2 regulations for critical infrastructure.
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Q3. What specific maintenance challenges do the highway drone systems face?
The dock drone systems require monthly maintenance visits to ensure hardware integrity, sensor calibration, and software updates. AI View Group has developed a preventive maintenance schedule that minimizes downtime while ensuring regulatory compliance and operational reliability.
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Q4. How is drone-captured data integrated with existing highway management systems?

The ReADI system interfaces directly with highway operators' traffic control rooms, displaying drone video feeds alongside traditional camera footage. AI-analyzed data is presented through intuitive dashboards that alert operators to traffic anomalies, infrastructure damage, or safety hazards requiring attention.