HyLight raises €13 million to industrialise its autonomous airships dedicated to the inspection of critical European infrastructure

The need to inspect power lines, gas pipelines, pipelines and railway tracks is increasing due to climate change, stricter regulations and security risks. Yet helicopters remain the main solution used to monitor these networks, despite their high costs, CO₂ emissions, noise levels and limited availability.

Existing alternatives also have limitations: drones lack flight endurance, satellites lack precision and ground-based sensors only allow for localised coverage.

To address these challenges, HyLight has developed the HyLighter, an autonomous airship measuring 12 metres in length and electrically powered by hydrogen. With no direct emissions and a very low noise level, it can fly for up to 10 hours and cover a target distance of 350 kilometres. It carries up to 10 kg of sensors, including LiDAR systems, cameras and methane detectors, to collect high-precision data on the inspected infrastructure.

The technology notably makes it possible to monitor network integrity, detect defects and identify methane leaks. Authorised by the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the HyLighter can fly beyond the remote pilot’s visual line of sight above critical infrastructure, in rural, peri-urban and urban environments.

HyLight has thus taken a first step towards the operational replacement of helicopters.

For Martin Bocken, co-founder and CEO of HyLight, the challenge is to offer a new way of inspecting this infrastructure:

“Most power lines are still inspected by helicopter, just as they were fifty years ago. Our HyLighters are already doing the same job, with greater precision and less risk.”

Beyond data collection, HyLight is developing artificial intelligence-based analysis tools to transform information gathered during flights into data that maintenance teams can use directly.

Its technology can automatically identify and geolocate more than 50 types of defects, as well as vegetation-related risks on power networks. The thousands of images collected are thus transformed into precise information designed to facilitate infrastructure monitoring and anomaly detection.

As flights become more frequent, this data could feed into a digital twin of the infrastructure and territories covered by HyLight, continuously enriched over time. The company is also considering future applications in sectors such as insurance, agriculture and public land management.

This approach is intended to evolve aerial inspection towards a better understanding of networks and their condition. By combining autonomous aircraft, sensors and artificial intelligence, HyLight aims to develop a new data infrastructure to support the monitoring and protection of critical networks.