High-speed police pursuits remain one of the most dangerous routine activities in modern law enforcement, contributing to thousands of injuries, deaths, and costly property damage each year. Existing methods to intervene, such as spike strips, PIT maneuvers, or roadblocks - often escalate the risk to officers, suspects, and civilians. To address this challenge, I have developed a patent-pending drone-based vehicle intervention platform designed for tactical, non-lethal public safety applications.

This system combines autonomous aerial navigation with integrated police vehicle deployment to deliver a real-time, flexible intervention option. The innovation centers on a compact, solar-rechargeable drone capable of launching from the hood of a patrol vehicle and autonomously trailing or positioning over a fleeing suspect's vehicle. The drone platform integrates real-time telemetry, onboard camera systems, GPS tracking, and return-to-base functionality for hands-free officer control.

Its most distinctive feature is a modular payload system intended to deliver a non-lethal method of temporarily neutralizing the fleeing vehicle's operational capability. The system is designed to have a safe, reversible impact on the target vehicle's ability to continue fleeing, without causing contact, impact, or force to the car(s).

The drone is supported by a hood-mounted, foldable landing platform equipped with visual guidance markers for precise automated return and docking. This platform incorporates solar panel integration for field-ready energy autonomy, allowing the system to recharge during patrol or while parked. The platform can be mounted on standard patrol units and supports rapid redeployment.

The intended use cases include highway pursuits, motorcycle chases, border patrol operations, public event security, and military checkpoint enforcement. Its design allows for future integration with in-vehicle systems, surveillance platforms, or training environments.

While a working prototype is currently in development, the system is designed to be constructed using commercially available drone platforms, off-the-shelf components, and modular attachments that are adaptable to specific agency use cases. This is an early-stage development project with active design and engineering work planned throughout 2025–2026.

This drone-enabled tool represents a novel category of non-lethal vehicle intervention technologies. It bridges a critical gap in modern policing by providing a hands-off solution for safely ending pursuits without collisions, weapon deployment, or high-risk maneuvers. Unlike traditional pursuit tools, it is scalable, rapidly deployable, and adaptable for diverse operational environments, including urban, rural, or tactical field use.

The system is intended to reduce injury, improve officer and public safety, and reduce legal and financial liability associated with high-speed chases. It also holds potential for integration into law enforcement simulation and training environments.

The invention is protected under a provisional patent filed in May 2025. I am actively seeking engineering collaborators, early-stage licensing partners, and development partners under NDA in preparation for filing a complete utility patent and prototyping in 2025–2026.