Externalised road cost
Small urgent orders can trigger a full vehicle journey, adding traffic, fuel exposure, parking pressure and collision risk.
Why Locust exists
Connectivity should reduce burden, not export it.
Local delivery is valuable. Its current economics can shift vehicle costs, working-time risk and weak task-price visibility onto couriers. UK public bodies document these issues; Locust exists to test a logistics model with explicit labour and public-impact accounting.910
Where the idea began
The convenience economy has costs its checkout screens rarely show.
Food and parcel couriers can face unpredictable task pricing, personal vehicle costs, time pressure and limited visibility into platform decisions. Migrants and graduates are not the problem; vulnerability and weak bargaining power are. A better logistics model should improve service without depending on desperation.9
Opaque labour incentives
Official UK research records variable task rates, unpaid waiting and worker-borne costs. Automation must not reproduce that opacity.9
One-way connectivity
Most platforms optimise retailer-to-consumer flow. A genuinely connected city should also support bounded person-to-person and community logistics.
Why now
The technology is entering a useful, not magical, phase.
Operators now publish useful payload, service-time and cumulative-volume references. Those figures establish technical plausibility, not local economics or public acceptance. No aircraft is silent; every route still needs measured acoustic evidence.456
Wing, Manna and Walmart publish cumulative deliveries, service times and payload limits that can seed a model before local data exists.456
Bank Rate was 3.75% on 6 June 2026. The case for simulation-first deployment is disciplined capital allocation, not a claim that financing is uniquely expensive.11
Distance, mass, liquids, weather, noise, risk and handoff quality decide whether a drone, cargo bike, van or collection point is the right mode.
The cooperative compact
Different capital should buy different outcomes.
Locust sits between public value, aerospace R&D and commercial return. The programme works only when those objectives are separated, measured and coordinated.
Public value without aircraft-development risk
Contribute sites, data, coordination and evaluation. Gain local evidence, resilience options, transparent safeguards, access improvements and authority over public assets and operating windows.
Reusable UK capability
Fund industrial research, assurance methods, HIL and transferable civil-RPAS technology rather than subsidising a single local delivery service. ATI explicitly assesses technology, market, exploitation and UK benefit.3
Compounding commercial assets
Fund the team, IP, integrations, working capital and customer acquisition. Gain exposure to project revenue, recurring software and an evidence base that improves with each deployment.
Evidence before commitment
Buy a route and mission study first. Commit to aircraft and infrastructure only when service, safety and economics pass agreed gates.
Visibility and recourse
Receive published operating limits, privacy rules, complaint routes, performance reporting and a voice at route and expansion gates.
Accountable integration
Own the digital twin, partner interfaces, evidence workflow and commercial product while the authorised operator retains operational safety authority.
Rules we will operate by
Transformative only counts when it remains accountable.
- 01No unlimited pilotBound geography, hours, payloads, weather and stop conditions.
- 02No hidden labour caseShow supervisors, mechanics, recovery teams and customer support in the economics.
- 03No “silent” claimMeasure sound by aircraft, route, altitude, time and receptor.
- 04No mode ideologyUse drones only where they outperform the practical ground alternative.
- 05No evidence theatreLabel simulation, assumptions, physical measurements and approvals separately.
Evidence behind this position
Primary sources, with claim-level links.
UK Low Pay CommissionGig work, task pricing and low pay ↗
Health and Safety ExecutiveGig and temporary-worker safety ↗
Home OfficeGraduate Route employment and earnings ↗
Bank of EnglandCurrent Bank Rate ↗
WingRegional delivery volume and network design ↗
MannaDeliveries, service time and 4 kg limit ↗
Full evidence registerAll sources, model status and evidence gaps ↗