Open skies: "We will transport goods and people in the air"

Eyal Regev, CEO of Gadfin Ltd., which provides advanced transportation solutions using drones, discussed the challenges facing the industry and future opportunities to reduce congestion on major transportation arteries. He spoke at the Infrastructure, Energy, and Transportation Conference organized by the Jerusalem Post Group, Maariv, and Walla!, in collaboration with Bank Leumi.

"We are working to improve the existing situation," he emphasizes. "This has been in the works for many years, a kind of revolution in which we will take to the air with people and goods. This will ultimately solve many transportation problems," said Regev at a special panel focused on environmentally friendly transportation and infrastructure solutions.

"We need to reach a point where in 50 years we will have a rational state of affairs on the roads, and this entire infrastructure is the beginning. The first step is really cargo transportation, and this is an increasing quantity that reduces pollution, traffic jams, and complications. We are working with unmanned aerial vehicles for delivery services and blood tests. We are collaborating with a major logistics company to carry out transports to 11 central hospitals." He added that they are working with the Health and Transportation Ministries to address hospitals in the north, especially in light of the ongoing war.

The panel also featured Environmental Protection Tamar Zandberg former Minister, who currently serves as the head of the National Climate and Environment Policy Institute at Ben Gurion University in the Negev. "Investment in infrastructure is a matter for decades to come," she emphasized in her remarks at the conference. "The world is undergoing changes, and extreme weather is becoming the norm. An infrastructure and construction world that fails to adapt to the changing reality will lose not only in terms of human life but also in value, funding opportunities, and prospects."

Meital Lehavi, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, addressed the metro issue in Dan district and its specific implications for the city. "We are promoting infrastructure suitable for personal small vehicles, like electric bicycles and electric scooters. The pace is a few kilometers each year; we have reached 180 kilometers and expect to reach 250 kilometers by the end of the term. We believe this will reduce private car mobility. There will be more connections to shops and travel by private car because every solution comes at the expense of something else. When you provide a path, you give up a sidewalk."

Sally Glitzenstein, CEO of Yefeh Nof, shared in the panel about the possibility of using existing infrastructures like rooftops. "The private and public sectors need to cooperate," she emphasized. "We live in a world of scarcity; there is a shortage of land and resources. However, we can collaborate because, for example, in the city of Haifa, there are 400 public rooftops, and if a drone transport company needs to land them at some point, not in the middle of the road or in parking lots, then rooftops are an underutilized resource that can be exploited. We are making significant efforts to collaborate with developers; we own certain properties in the city, but we need state approval; there is too much excessive regulation."