Land Domain
In the Land domain, examples of regulatory constrains have been identified in the EDA/SafeMUVe project, which analysed existing regulations (at EU level, MS level and in non-EU countries) relevant for different levels of autonomous operations of ground vehicles for open roads, off roads, and open test grounds, and include:
- Experiences with military UGV exist but there is no public regulation (national or international) for such activities.
- There is no specific regulation for remotely operated UGV.
- Most current regulations focus on R&D and testing purposes but the need for widespread commercial use (including certification) will arise soon, and regulations must be in place.
- Local regulations are moving faster than international regulations, increasing the risk of unsuccessful interoperability across borders.
- Current regulatory framework is focused on technical and safety issues, however other aspects should be taken into account to foster transition from test to production (e.g., data privacy, communication security, insurance, etc.).
Maritime Domain
In the maritime domain, Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) offer increasing military capabilities as their maturity evolves, generating regulatory challenges as well. As UMS are just starting to be recognized in international conventions, codes and regulations, coordination between defence actors is key to reduce diversity in national and industrial standards and regulations, and thus guarantee a high level of interoperability and freedom of manoeuvre.
In this field, the EDA ad hoc working group “Safety and regulations for unmanned maritime systems” (AHWG SARUMS) is established to provide EDA and pMS an adequate working structure to discuss UMS from a regulatory and safety perspective, and to engage the maritime community at a broad scope and depth in the maritime policies. This group brings together experts from EDA and pMS to contribute to shape the UMS landscape towards more coherence from a safety and regulatory perspective, to strengthen the link with relevant institutions, organisations and industrial stakeholders, to identify collaborative opportunities and to promote them further through projects and programs.
Air Domain
In the Air domain, despite the great deal of achievements in the field of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) integration in the civil aviation environment, such as the EU Regulations 2019/947 and 2019/945 which have set out the framework for the safe operation of civil drones in the European skies, the need to address the regulatory issues from the initial development of AS is of vital importance. Failure to do so will have a great impact on the availability of training venues and opportunities whereas AS will be involved, thus affecting the capability development overall. The regulation concerning certification requirements are currently under review and are expected to experience a transition from a fixed-parameter to a risk-based approach.