Supporting activities

Supporting activities

Along with the activities outlined in this Roadmap, there are 5 overarching supporting activities.

Digital services

We must review our administrative processes and approval times as the RPAS and AAM industries grow.

Digital services play an important role in the operational environment and the evolution of risk-based regulation.

Technology and digital tools will support faster processing times and reduce some of the regulatory oversight.

Research, development and testing

We need fit-for-purpose regulatory settings to support R&D, and flight-testing activities.

We will work with industry to understand the research, development, and testing needs of AAM and RPAS to allow industry to develop safely. We support these activities by understanding industry pain points and timely review of policy settings.

Regulatory sandboxes

Our regulatory sandbox framework allows us to work with industry to test and understand new products, services, or concepts.

It may help us identify, assess and manage new risks in a way that is:

  • safe
  • controlled
  • time-limited.

This approach may inform future regulations for RPAS, AAM, or other emerging technologies.

Where we recognise value and utility in a regulatory sandbox approach, we will seek engagement from industry and select participants who can assist us to fill operational or regulatory knowledge gaps. We recognise the opportunity to build knowledge with multiple parties to support regulatory innovation. Sandboxes can help us collect the evidence needed to develop and adapt our regulatory approach so innovation can be achieved safely and efficiently.

Systems assurance

Future operations, systems, and services like UTM will increasingly rely on automation as we move toward autonomous systems. This shift may reduce human involvement and use technologies like artificial intelligence. To maintain safety and build trust in these new technologies, we need effective methods of system assurance. This work supports several Roadmap activities and affects initiatives across all regulatory areas.

Community

RPAS and AAM must operate in line with community expectations. Balancing this with the industry's desire to innovate and grow can be challenging without the right level of social licence. Social licence refers to the ongoing acceptance of a project or technology by the community and other important stakeholders.

We will work with industry and other government agencies to build community understanding. We will also promote engagement between operators and the communities where they operate. For more details, refer to Drivers, enablers and dependencies.

Updated: 30 January 2025
Online version available at: https://www.casa.gov.au//resources-and-education/publications-and-resources/corporate-publications/rpas-and-aam-strategic-regulatory-roadmap/supporting-activities
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