EN 
it
Italy's Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) has announced the successful outcome of the field test for VISTA – Visual drone-assisted road rescue, a project developed with the Department of Computer Science of the University of Bari Aldo Moro as part of the National Road Safety Plan 2030. The first operational test took place on 18 March 2026 in Bari, during a simulated road accident.
The operational test in Bari
According to the MIT, the test made it possible to verify in the field an integrated system based on a drone, real-time video transmission and artificial intelligence algorithms. During the simulation, the aircraft flew over the accident area sending images to operational centres, while the system analysed the scene to identify the vehicles involved, detect the presence of people and flag any critical situations.
What the VISTA system does
The aim of the project is to provide informational support in the minutes immediately following an impact, so as to deliver a faster and more detailed picture of the event and facilitate the coordination of rescue activities. The MIT also highlights that one of the aspects emerging from the trial is the definition of a drone-person interaction protocol, designed to enable contextualised communication with victims and to document accident outcomes.
An application increasingly relevant to infrastructure
The Bari test fits into an application area that is gaining growing importance in the professional civil drone sector: the use of remotely piloted systems for monitoring, surveying, inspection and operational support in complex infrastructure contexts. In this case, the distinctive element is the integration of aerial observation, immediate image transmission and automated scene analysis, applied to road safety and first-response management.
A topic already present at Dronitaly
The Bari test sits within an application area that had already emerged at Dronitaly in the 2024 and 2026 editions. In the discussions held at those editions – also involving organisations such as ANAS and Autobrennero – use cases and scenarios related to drone deployment in infrastructure and operational contexts had already come to the fore. The VISTA trial falls within this same perimeter, focusing attention on a specific application: support for road rescue through aerial observation, real-time images and automated scene analysis.
Source: Road safety: VISTA, the intelligent drone, tested in Bari | Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport
