Summary

Severe storms, floods and wildfires are striking Europe far more often, and with harsher consequences than ever before. To keep communities safe, emergency teams need tools that let them see further, react faster and stay out of harm’s way.

Bringing together 15 partners from industry, research and the public sector, HURRICANE (Holistic UGV-based Resilient and Real-time Intelligence for Crisis And Natural Emergency) is building a next-generation robotic ecosystem that links unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and drones into a single, real-time situational-awareness network. Enhanced 3-D vision, laser-based drone-to-UGV charging, resilient 5G / RF / optical communications and data-driven decision models work in concert to give first responders an instant, holistic picture of the scene, whether in a peri-urban floodplain, an Alpine landslide or a fast-moving wildfire.

The project’s field pilots will show how this integrated approach can shorten mission times, cut false alarms and dramatically reduce human exposure to danger, while laying the groundwork for EU-wide training and future-proof standards. In doing so, HURRICANE not only strengthens Europe’s disaster-management capacity but also bolsters the continent’s robotics industry and technological sovereignty.

Our role

Timelex serves as HURRICANE’s dedicated legal partner, proactively tracking any regulatory or compliance questions that arise throughout the project. We will also author a comprehensive report detailing the legal framework that governs first-responder use of unmanned vehicles across Europe, coupled with practical recommendations for dismantling current legal barriers, particularly those encountered in cross-border deployments. Developed in close collaboration with national legal experts and local public authorities, this report will offer clear guidance for establishing the HURRICANE pilot operations in each participating Member State and will include a legal assessment of lessons learned to inform future roll-outs.