ZTE used a remote-controlled passenger drone to highlight its ambition to enhance its position in the 5G era by offering devices and applications to a wide range of industries.

In a demonstration at operator Hutchison Drei Austria’s (H3A) innovation centre in Vienna, the Chinese vendor explained it provided the 5G-based control module for the drone, noting remote operation would help ensure safe navigation and landings.

The vendor cited potential uses for the drone in agriculture, infrastructure inspections, and taxi services.

Jan Trionow, CEO of H3A, added the drone is just one potential application of the low-latency and high reliability 5G technology offers. “The world of innovation is ahead of us and we want to be leading the development with our partner ZTE,” he explained.

ZTE Austria CEO Christian Woschitz said the joint development with H3A highlights the vendor’s commitment “to the Austrian market and to the European market”. Austria will act as a hub for the company’s work in Central and Eastern Europe, he added.

The vendor and operator also conducted a demo of what ZTE claimed is the first customer-facing use of network slicing, offering consumers and businesses options around SLAs based on specific requirements. .

But perhaps its most unusual application of 5G was a robot dog capable of following human commands. ZTE cited potential uses in search-and-rescue situations.