Land Rover revealed a special version of
the Discovery specifically made for the Austrian Red Cross called Project Hero
at the Geneva Motor Show. The company’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO)
designed and engineered the unique Discovery which will be trialed by the
emergency response teams of the Red Cross.
‘Project Hero’ is also the first vehicle with a
roof-mounted drone. SVO has installed a fully integrated landing system on the
roof, featuring self-centering and magnetic retention technology, enabling the
drone to land on the car, even if it’s in motion.
The drone can transmit live footage back to the
emergency response teams, helping them act more quickly and effectively to
landslides, earthquakes, floods and avalanches.
Land Rover has been a long-time supporter of the Red
Cross since 1954, having supplied 120 vehicles to the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest
humanitarian network.
Project Hero is based on the 3.0-litre V6 TD6
version of the new Land Rover Discovery and in addition to the drone technology
also features a heavy-duty sliding floor in the rear load space, a segregation
panel behind the rear seats, extra LED lighting to aid night vision and
innovative power supply points which accept multiple plug arrangements from
different regions.
The Project Hero will be based at the Austrian Red
Cross training centre in Erzberg and in Vienna for 12 months, starting from
June 2017.
