Supermarket giants Asda are using drones at one of their Bristol supermarkets.
Shoppers visiting the Bedminster store on Saturday (June 29) were left intrigued by a sign informing them a drone was being flown above their heads and over the car park.
It was the hottest day of the year so far and the Bedminster store also ran out of Thatcher’s cider by mid afternoon.
Outside, the movements of cars in the huge Asda car park, just off Coronation Road, were being recorded by drones supplied by a company called RUAS.
The sign said the drone was there to ‘collect data’ on how many cars are using the car park.
A spokesperson for Asda went further, explaining the drone was not set up to capture images of individual shoppers or vehicle registration numbers of their cars, but was a better tool than more traditional car park monitoring cameras which might have been fixed at the entrances and exits of the car park.
A spokesperson for the Bedminster store said - because it was filming from above - the drone didn’t capture registration numbers, and was merely counting cars.
“Customers may have noticed a drone being used from time to time in our Bedminster store car park,” she said.
“Whilst it looks exciting, it’s actually just an easy way for us to monitor the flow of traffic to help ensure that there are enough car parking spaces for customers, particularly during peak times,” she added.
