Passenger drones can help ease traffic in cities, and if planned efficiently, would cost civilians just as much as auto-rickshaws do, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said on Sunday.

Speaking at the technical festival of the Indian Institute of Technology’s Mumbai campus, Sinha urged students at the premier engineering institute to help develop tools for such technology, PTI reported.

“Drones are a massive opportunity,” Sinha said. “Like electric vehicles, drones will also use the same electric motors and batteries, but the only difference is that they will be in the sky. We are working on bringing in some set of regulations for drones that will help make the technology more progressive.”

The Ministry of Civil Aviation is working on norms to regulate the operation of drones for civilian purposes.

He also said drones were now being used extensively for delivery of services, surveillance and mapping. “People are now working on creating passenger drones,” he told the students. “We also need to develop our own technology to grab the massive opportunity in this space.”